FederalDaily - June 27, 2007
State Dept. Urged to Hire Ex-Servicemembers Dismissed Under ‘Don’t
Ask’
Two senior lawmakers urged State Department officials to begin hiring foreign-language
qualified ex-servicemembers who have been discharged under the military’s “Don’t
ask, don’t tell” policy. Reps. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the
House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., chairman of the subcommittee
on the Middle East and South Asia, sent the letter June 25 to Deputy Secretary of
State John Negroponte. They noted that the State Department has an urgent need for
skilled diplomats with critical foreign language skills and pointed to the 9/11 Commission
report which recommended a greater national emphasis on such language skills. The
Government Accountability Office has reported more than 300 servicemembers with skills
in critical foreign languages—including Persian and Arabic—have been
discharged under “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “While we
lament our government’s anachronistic and short-sighted adherence to the bigoted ‘Don’t
ask, don’t tell’ policy, we see no reason why our nation’s diplomatic
mission should suffer for the military’s lack of vision,” the letter
said. To see more, go to: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/press_display.asp?id=378
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Report Shows 7% Drop in EEOC Work Force Complaints
A new Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) report shows that federal work force complaints
alleging employment discrimination dropped by 7 percent last year as compared to the previous year—to
just 16,723. The report, released June 22, shows that the number of complaints from federal employees
and applicants alleging discrimination—on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion,
age, disability and reprisal—hit a five-year low. Compared to FY 2002, when the EEOC received
21,945 complaints, last year’s totals represent a 23.7 percent drop. The report noted that the
agencies with the highest complainant rate in FY 2006 were the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Government
Printing Office, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department
of Transportation. While complaints were down, agencies were still exceeding the 180-day time frame
required by federal regulations for conducting investigations. Average investigation processing time
was reduced from 237 days in FY 2005 to 186 days in FY 2006, the report said. To see more, go to: www.eeoc.gov/press/6-22-07.html
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FAA Offers $20,000 Bonuses for Controller Candidates
In an effort to meet a nationwide staffing shortage, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is
now offering a $20,000 “recruitment incentive” for air traffic control applicants who have
previous experience. The new bonuses, advertised on the USAJOBS Web site, indicate how much trouble
the FAA is having in finding qualified candidates, National Air Traffic Controllers Association President
Patrick Forrey said on June 22. “This announcement is clear proof that FAA officials are resorting
to desperate measures to address the staffing crisis that threatens to completely overwhelm them,” Forrey
said. An FAA report released last month said the air transportation system is under stress from increased
air traffic, noting that the system handles 750 million passengers a year—which is expected to
grow to 1 billion passengers by 2015. NATCA officials say, despite increasing air traffic, nearly 1,100
fewer air traffic controllers are working in U.S. facilities than three years ago. To see more, go
to: www.natca.org/mediacenter/press-release-detail.aspx?id=436
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