Federal Daily - September 5, 2008
EPA Issues Class-Action Notices
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued class-action certification notices for current
and retired employees who are potential litigants in an ongoing complaint over possible age and race
discrimination pending before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC complaint, Carol
A. Clopton et al v. Stephen L. Johnson, EPA Administrator, was certified for all current and retired
employees of EPA Region VII, based in Kansas City, Kan., who were employed between May 11, 1998, and
Aug. 31, 2007, and who were at least 40 years of age when employed, according to Steven M. Spiegel,
the attorney for the class of plaintiffs. The complainants allege that the agency denied rotational
assignments, training opportunities and promotions to older career employees because of their age and
race, while EPA gave preferential treatment and opportunities to younger newly hired employees, Spiegel
said in a Sept. 4 statement. This alleged discriminatory treatment additionally included providing
younger employees with accelerated salary increases, more paid leave and special travel opportunities,
Spiegel said. “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should be held accountable by compensating
those employees who have been harmed by EPA’s unwritten and illegal policies of age and race
discrimination,” the statement said. To see more, go to: http://02a66a2.netsolhost.com/Docket/Class%20Action%20Notice%20-%20Aug%2029%202008.pdf.
:: Back to Top ::
Post-Deployment Mental Health Testing Lacking, Report Says
DoD needs to do a better job to ensure that returning veterans participate in post-deployment mental
health tests that could indicate whether they are at risk of developing combat-related mental health
conditions, said a Sept. 4 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. GAO concluded that returning
Afghanistan and Iraq veterans could be at risk for mental health problems, including post-traumatic
stress disorder, because DoD cannot accurately assess whether the military services are making sure
that servicemembers complete a post-deployment health reassessment (PDHRA). DoD’s quality assurance
program relies on many data sources to oversee compliance with deployment health requirements—but
the military services’ quarterly reports and the monthly reports from Armed Forces Health Surveillance
Center do not provide the information DoD needs to accurately assess PDHRA completion rates. Also,
because DoD does not provide specific standards for collecting and reporting this required information,
there are inconsistencies within a service and among the services as to what information is included
in each quarterly report, GAO said. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d081025r.pdf.
:: Back to Top ::
IG Finds Poor Use of Discounted Air Fares at HHS Office of Secretary
Health and Human Service Department (HHS) Office of the Secretary (OS) workers potentially could have
saved more than $500,000 in travel costs in Fiscal Year 2006 if they had booked the cheapest available
government-contracted fare, said a HHS Inspector General (IG) report. The report, dated Aug. 26, looked
at the $4 million spent on air travel by HHS OS employees in 2006. The report noted that OS travelers
used discounted airfares for only 721 (16 percent) of the 4,397 trips that were potentially available
for a discounted fare. During this period, federal civilian employees government-wide used discounted
airfares for an average of 50 percent of the domestic trips for which discounted fares were available,
the report said. Under General Services Administration rules, federal employees on government business
must use a GSA contract fare for air travel—known as the GSA city-pair program. However, those
OS travelers who responded to the IG survey had a poor understanding of the city-pair fare options
and did not know how to identify trips with discounted fares, the report said. Also, 54 percent of
the respondents stated that at the time of booking their last flight, they did not search for a GSA
discounted city-pair fare, the report said. “As a result, they were often unaware of those lower
cost fares,” the report said. To see more, go to: http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region3/30700500.htm.
:: Back to Top ::
Workforce Tops New OFPP Chief's Priorities
Federal Computer Week—Lesley Field, who begins serving Sept. 3 as acting administrator
for federal procurement policy, said intern programs are critical in attracting and keeping people
in the acquisition workforce. “We’re trying to get the message out to people who are coming
out of college or changing careers that this is a tremendous field,” she said in a recent interview
with Federal Computer Week. It was Field’s first interview as deputy administrator of
the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. In July she moved from a policy analyst at OFPP to its deputy
administrator when Robert Burton retired. Now, with OFPP’s current administrator Paul Denett
leaving the job today, Field will be in charge of the governmentwide policy office. Procurement often
isn’t high on people’s lists when it comes to choosing careers, Field and other officials
in acquisition say. However, “we want to be right there” when they're considering their
options, Field said. To read the complete article, go to: www.fcw.com/online/news/153668-1.html.
:: Back to Top ::
|
