Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The EEOC publishes data on the employment status of women and members of minority groups. Through six employment surveys covering private employers, apprenticeship programs, LABOR UNIONS, state and local governments, elementary and secondary schools, and COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, the EEOC tabulates data on employees' ethnic, racial, and gender makeup. The EEOC distributes this information to various federal agencies and makes it available for public use.

Eliminating a large backlog of discrimination charges has been a continuing problem for the EEOC, but efforts to streamline have been effective; by fiscal year 2001 the inventory of charges had been reduced to 32,481, in contrast to a record 120,000 charges in mid-1995.

In 1999 the EEOC launched a National Mediation Program as an alternative to the traditional complaint process. Professionals trained in mediation work with employers and employees to determine whether a mutually agreeable resolution can be reached. By 2003 the EEOC had resolved 29,000 charges through mediation. In March 2003 the EEOC added a mediation pilot program, a "referral back" program that allows the agency to give charges back to a company's internal dispute resolution program in the hopes of mediating its own agreement.

Web site: <http:/www.eeoc.gov>.