SEXUAL ~MOO IN THE VA AND H.R. 1703, DEPART· 

MOO OF VETFRAN'S AfFAIRS EMPWYMENf DLUIMINA· 

nON PREVENTION ACf 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE 

SUBCOMMITTEE OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS 

OF THE 

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED FIFrH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

JULy 17, 1997 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Aft'aira 

Serial No. 105-18 

u.s. OOWRNMBNT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON : 1998 

For sale by Ibc u.s. Government PriDIing Office 

superiDtaldeol of Documents, Conpssional Sales Office, wasbiJlaton, DC 20402 

ISBN 0-16-056267·8 
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS 

BOB STUMP, ArlsoDa, CAairmon 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, N_ Jeraq LANE EVANS, IIliDoil 

MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, I'lorida JOSEPH P. KENNEDY D, MulacbUMtta 

FLOYD SPENCE, South CaroUDa BOB FILNER, California 

TERRY EVERBTT, Alabama LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, I11inoia 

STEVB BUYER, Indiana JAMBS B. CLYBURN, South CaroUDa 

JACK QUINN, N_ York CORIUNB BROWN, Florida 

SPENCBR BACHUS, Alabama MICHAEL F. DOYLE, PeDDiylvaDia 

CLIFF STEARNS, I'lorida FRANK MASCARA, PeDDaywlDia 

DAN SCHAEFER, Colorado COLLIN C. PBTBRSON, MiDIIeeo&. 

JERRY MORAN, Kauu JULIA CARSON, IndiaDa 

JOHN COOKSEY, LouiaiaDa SD.VBSTRB REYBB, Tau 

ABA HtrI'CHINSON, ArkmaM VIC SNYDBR, ArkmaM 

J.D. HAYWORTH, AriIoDa CIRO D. RODRIGUEZ, Tau 

HBLEN CHENOWETH, Idaho 

RAY LAHooD,lLLINOIS 

CARL D. CoIOlBNATOa, CIWf eou-l IJIItl StlJff DirectlIr 

SUBCOMMITl'EE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS 

TERRY EVERBTT, Alabama, CAairmon 

BOB STUMP, AriIoDa 

FLOYD SPENCE, South CaroIiDa 

STEVE BUYER, Indiana 

JAMES E. CLYBURN, South CaroIiDa 

VIC SNYDER, Arkauu 

FRANK MASCARA, PezmaylvaDia 

(0) 
CONTENTS 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Chairman Everett ................................................................................................... . Hon. Jam. Clyburn ............................................................................................... . Prepared atatement of CongrelllmaD Clyburn .............................................. . Hon. Fr8Dk M8ICIU'a ............................................................................................... . Prepared atatement of CongrelllmaD Maacara ............................................ .. HOD. Lane Evana, ranki.nc democratic member, Committee on Veterana' Af· 

faira ..................................................................................................................... .. Prepared atatement of CongrelllmaD Evana ................................................ .. Hon. Mike Bilirakia, a Repreaentative in Congreu from the State of Florida ... Prepareci atatement of CoJllnllalD8D Biliialde ............................................ .. Hon. Steve Buyer .................................................................................................... . Hon. Vie Snyder ...................................................................................................... . 

WITNESSES 

Faircloth, Hon. Lauch, a U.S. Senator from the State of North Carolina .......... 

Gobe~~~=.a:~.OfSe~to~~ ~ ...... · .. ·;~i"~f'v~j;;w·Aif;.·i;;;; accompanied ~: Hon. ke= W. Kizer, M.~er Secretary for Health, 

Veterana Health Adminiatration; Hon. Ste31hen L. Lemona, Aetiq Under 

Secretary for Benefits; Hon. E!-W'ne A. Briekhouae, Aaaiatant secretary for Human Resoun::ea and Admiriiatration; Mr. Neal C. LaWlOn, Aaaiatant 

General Counael; Ma. Patricia A. McKlem, Director, VA Medical Center, 

Prescott, AZ; and Ma. Ventria C. Gibeon, Director, Office of Human Beaourcea, Veterana Benefits Adminiatration ....................................................... . Prepared atatement of Mr. Gober .................................................................. . Merriman, William T., Deputy Inapeetor Generah Department of Veterana 

Mairs; accom.r.anied ~ Ma. ~aureen ReC'. \.iOunae~ .for ~~r Gen· 

~=-ta=!ro,Mr~=:=-~: ... ~.~~~~ .. ~~~~ .. ::::::::::: 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD 

Bill: 

H.R.1703 ......................................................................................................... .. Reportl: 

"Re3lOrt of the Equal Em~1oyment Opportunity Complaint Proeeu Review 

Taak Foree," prepared by Henhel Gober, Eugene Briekhouee and Neal 

LaWlOn ......................................................................................................... .. 

~lmt!f~~ard:n1er~ F:i!=tle~~ .. ~ .. ~~~.~.~~~.~ .. ~~~ .. ~~ ... ~~ Written committee gUeltiona and their retjlODl8ll: 

CongrelllmaD EVana to ~ent orVeterana Aft'aira ............................ .. 

CO:r=~ .. ~~ .. ~ ...... ~~~~~ .. :.: .. ~~~~: .. ~~~~.~~ .. ~~ .. ~~~~~ 

(m) 

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2 

62 

3 

66 

4 

67 

4 

70 

15 

29 

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73 

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76 

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158 

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96 

SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE VA AND H.ft. 

1703, DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN'S AFFAIRS 

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION PREVENTION ACT 

THURSDAY, JULY 17, 1997 

HOUSE OF REpRESENTATIVES 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS, 

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:30 a.m., in room 

334, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Terry Everett (chairman 

of the subcommittee) presidiJ:lg. 

Present: Representatives Everett, Buyer, Clyburn, Snyder, and 

Mascara. 

Also Present: Representatives Bilirakis and Evans. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN EVERETT 

Mr. EVERETl'. The hearing will come to order. Good morning. 

Today's hearing will examine how the VA has responded to compelling testimony from five courageous women at our April 17 hearmg on Fayetteville VA Medical Center. At the hearing, I asked the 

VA to investigate additional allegations of sexual harassment and 

abusive and threatening inappropriate behavior by Jerome Calhoun, the former Director, Fayetteville VA Medical Center. 

We will hear about the findings and recommendations of V Ns 

special task force convened to review the Department's equal employment opportunity complaint system. We will hear about the 

findings of the VA's employee survey regarding work-related sexual 

harassment. 

We will also discuss H.R. 1703, the Department of Veterans Mfairs' Employment Discrimination Prevention Act, which I introduced with our full committee ranking_ democratic member, Lane 

Evans. It is also cosponsored by the full committee chairman, Bob 

Stump; Jim Clyburn, the ranking democratic member of the subcommittee; Mike Bilirakis; and Steve Buyer. 

This proposal will establish within the VA an Office of Employment DISCrimination Complaints Resolution headed by the director, 

who would be solely responsible for resolving all complaints of unlawful employment discrimination within the Department. Currently directors of VA facilities are also the EEO officers for their 

own facilities. 

From past testimony in 1992, 1993, and in April of this l::r' we 

have heard over and over again that the system VA now does 

(1) 
2 

not work. Too many of the men and women of the VA perceive that 

some senior management within the Department does not take the 

EEO process seriously. I intend to ensure that VA's zero tolerance 

policy translates into an EEO organization in which employees 

have confidence. 

Today we will hear from our Senate colleague from the State of 

North Carolina. It was Senator Faircloth's initial inquiry to the VA 

Inspector General that led to the uncovering of the severe problems 

in Fayetteville and that ultimately led to the House and Senate 

hearings and the House and Senate EEO bills. Senator Graham 

and Senator Faircloth have introduced S. 801, the companion bill 

to H.R. 1703. 

Senator Faircloth, we appreciate you being over here. And we'1l 

get to your testimony in just a moment. Right now rd like to recognize our ranking member, Mr. Clyburn, who has absolutely been 

one of the finest ranking members anybody could have on a 

subcommittee. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES CLYBURN 

Mr. CLYBURN. Well, you're so kind, Mr. Chairman. Thank you 

very much for recognizing me. 

I want to thank you for your continued interest in holding hearings on the extremely sensitive and serious problem of sexual harassment within the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

During this subcommittee's testimony in April on this subject, we 

called on the Department to conduct a follow-up review of the troubling incidents at the Fayetteville facility. We also asked that the 

Department finalize its long-awaited survey of VA employee attitudes on sexual harassment. I am pleased that the Department has 

completed these tasks, although I believe everyone understands 

that much more needs to be done. 

I am encouraged by the V Ns willingness to consider adopting significant provisions from H.R. 1703, the VA Employment Discrimination Prevention Act. Lane Evans and I were original cosponsors 

of the bill back in 1993, when it was first introduced. At that time, 

the VA told us that changes were in the works regarding the EEO 

process at VA and throughout government and that there was no 

need for this legislation. 

As most of us know by now, this expected ~overnment-wide solution never happened, and the problems within the V Ns EEO process have continued to fester. Five years after the first hearings 

were held on this subject, the same problems remain at VA. 

It is a tribute to Chairman Everett that he has recognized the 

continuing need for legislation to improve the EEO ~rocess at VA. 

This May with bipartisan support, Terry introduced H.R. 1703, legislation derived from the bill that was first introduced in 1993. 

It is also a tribute to Acting Secretary Hershel Gober that he has 

recognized the serious problems with the EEO process at VA and 

that he has proposed an administrative solution that draws in 

large part from the bill we have introduced during this Congress. 

In my view, howeyer, the V Ns proposals in this area do not go 

far enough, and there is still the need for legislation in this area. 

I am extremely interested in hearing the VA's testimony on this 

issue this morning. I look forward to working with the VA and my 
3 

colleagues on this committee to ensure that we finally address this 

critical issue and that we restore the faith and trust in the EEO 

process that our VA employees and our veterans deserve. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll yield back. 

[The prepared statement of Congressman Clyburn appears on p. 

62.J 

Mr. EvERETT. Thank you, Jim. 

Mr. Buyer? Doc Snyder? Any other member wish to make a comment? Excuse me. I'll recognize you in my traditional way. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF BON. FRANK MASCARA 

Mr. MAsCARA. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Good morning. 

As a new member of this subcommittee, I am honored to be participating in this important hearing this morning to examine H.R. 

1703, the VA Employment Discrimination Prevention Act. I am 

pleased the top leaders of the Department of Veterans Affairs are 

present to give us an update on the Department's effort to no 

longer tolerate and truly eliminate sexual harassment at all levels 

of the VA. 

I understand Acting Secretary Gober will testify that the VA opposes enactment of H.R. 1703 and would prefer to establish a 

stronger equal employment opportunity process administratively. 

While I know the VA's intent is honorable and well-intentioned, I 

would hope you all understand the members of this subcommittee 

are going to expect some firm action to see that these kinds of incidents no longer occur. We are going to expect some definite, independent process that will fully investigate sexual harassment complaints and see that the appropriate disciplinary actions are taken. 

My understanding is that in the past the VA General Counsel 

has overturned 85 percent of the findings of sexual harassment 

that have been found as a result of the current administrative process. I think the most objective observer would say that clearly 

shows something is wrong with the process and that the VA needs 

to do better. 

Finally, I want to also praise my colleagues Ranking Member 

Lane Evans and Representative Clyburn for championing this issue 

over the years. I understand you both were successful in winning 

House approval of legislation very similar to H.R. 1703 following 

an incident that occurred at the Atlanta facility in 1992. 

I am sorry that after 5 years we seem to be back to square one. 

However, I do have the hope that with a strong commitment from 

Acting Secretary Gober and Dr. Kizer, we can all work together to 

see that the VA truly lives up to its zero tolerance for sexual harassment policy. 

I look forward to listening to this morning's testimony, and I 

yield back the balance of my time; Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Congressman Mascara appears on p. 

66.J 

Mr. EVERETT. Thank you. 

This committee is fortunate to have as a member of the committee our full committee ranking member, Lane Evans. Lane? 
4 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LANE EVANS, RANKING 

DEMOCRATIC MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS 

Mr. EVANS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I a~~~ate the fact that 

you and the ranking member are holding . hearing, I think 

keeping the focus on this issue. 

I associate myself with many of the remarks my colleagues have 

made. We are pJeased with the important first steps that are being taken by the VA and by Secretary Hershel Gober to fix a EEO 

process that is clearly broken. I believe Hershel is serious about 

correcting the sexual harassment and EEO problems at the VA I 

am encouraged by his willingness to take personal responsibility for solving this festering issue. 

I recognize the VA's honest efforts to propose an administrative 

fix to the EEO process. Unless the VA IS willing to make simificantly greater chan~s in its EEO procedures, however, I still believe it will take legislation like H.R. 1703 to get the job done. 

I believe Chairman Everett and Jim Clyburn share this view and 

am encouraged by the Secretary's willin~ess to work with us on 

this issue. I look forward to the testimony this morning. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Congressman Evans appears on p. 

67.] 

Mr. EVERETT. Thank you, Lane. 

An outstanding member of the full Veterans Committee is Mr. 

Bilirakis from Florida, who has an ongoing interest in this. We now 

recognize Mr. Bilirakis. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE BILIRAKIS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. And I, too, 

want to commend you and Mr. Clyburn for scheduling today's follow-up hearing. And I certainly very much appreciate the oppor- tunity to participate in the hearing, even though I'm not a member 

of the subcommittee. And I also want to welcome Senator Faircloth 

to our committee. 

Mr. Chairman, at our April hearing, several VA employees testified about their experiences with sexual harassment at the Fay- etteville VA Medical Center. It took a great deal of courage for 

them to come forward and share their stories with us. I think most 

members of this subcommittee, I would like to say all members of 

this subcommittee, were dismayed with the situation at the Fay- etteville medical facility. 

I could not help but experience a sense of deja vu, as others have 

already said, at our first hearing. The stories we heard at our April 

hearing closely mirror those of VA employees who testified before 

the Oversight Subcommittee in 1992, when I served as the ranking minority member to Mr. Evans. 

That 1992 hearing revealed that the VA process in place at the 

VA for investigating sexual harassment was seriously flawed. The 

1997 hearing showed that the process is still flawed. In this regard, 

I'm pleased to be an original cosponsor of Chairman Everett's 

legislation. And, although I'm heartened to see that the Department is taking action to correct its EEO process, I must admit, even though 
5 

I sincerely do have great confidence in Secretary Gober, that I'm 

disaf~~ted, really, that the VA is not sUfporting this legislation. I . we have to ask ourselves, all 0 us: Can anyone blame 

us for being skeptical that the Department's administrative actions 

will adequately correct the problems within the current process? I 

think not. 

The skepticism is based on the track record on this matter. In 

1993, the House app'roved legislation that would have provided for 

improved and expedited procedures for resolving complaints of employment discrimination, including sexual harassment complaints. 

At that time Secretary Brown opposed the bill because he preferred 

to take admjnjstrative action and the bill was not enacted into law. 

The Secretary certainly was sincere. He's truly intended to fix the 

problem. But it was not done. Almost 5 years later, we are faced 

with a similar situation at the VA 

I believe that Sectary Gober is sincere in his efforts to address 

the sexual harassment problems that were documented in our April 

hearing, but I am not convicted that Congress should defer legislative action. 

Mr. EVERETT. What I would really prefer to see, Mr. Chairman, 

is that maybe possibly a result of the testimony that we hear here 

today, that SeCretary Gober will sit down us because I don't think 

we want to do an.vthiJur that will be an obstacle or roadblock or 

some of the things -that lie plans to do there. 

But at the same time I reany think that maybe we ought to codify some of these ideas, maybe even some of his ideas, codify them, 

rather than basically leave it up to whoever is on duty at the time. 

So I commend you, sir, and hopefully we'll be able to solve this 

problem. 

Thank you. 

Mr. EVERETT. Thank you. I think that would be very helpful. 

I'd like now to recognize our a member of our SUbcODlDllttee. Mr. 

Buyer also is the subcommittee chairman, the person in the N ational Security Committee and has a lot of experience along these 

lines. Mr. Buyer? 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. STEVE BUYER 

Mr. BUYER. Thank you. I know we want to get to the witnesses, 

but I just have to make a comment, two of them. Man;r of m;r colleagues are well-aware that myself and Jane Harmon~ Tilley Fowler are leading the whole effort with regard to sexual harassment 

fraternization and sexual misconduct, all of those issues in the 

United States military. And we're leaving tonight to go to Great 

Lakes training center. We've got Parris Island yet to do. And we'll 

be down at San Antonio. 

We've got an interim report that we submitted a couple of weeks 

ago if anybody would like to take a look at it. 

We have had to jump in and do some micromanaging. I don't like 

to do that type of thiilg. I think the services ought to be able to 

take control of each of their services and do things correctly. But 

we have had to jump in and do some actual micromanaging. That's 

what's in some of tliis defense bill that we're going to move to conference with someone else has signed. Hopefully we won't have to 

do that with the VA 
6 

I agree with Michael Bilirakis' statement. Many of us were here 

in 1993 when the Secretary really asked us to back off, not to 

micromanage, that he would take care of it. And even ~ my good friend from Florida used the word that the former Secretary 

was very "sincere," I have to question that because we asked him 

to come here. 

We asked him to testify. He chose to go cut a ribbon for a home1888 shelter in southem California. When he was faced with nine 

of his senior managers that were up for sexual harassment, I think 

Mr. Brown really was more interested in leaving town. 

I was very disappointed. I Just want to put that on the record 

that I was extremely disappomted with Jesse Brown and how he 

handled this and how, instead of coming and talkinJr with us and 

working through this issue, it just didn't happen. Ana. so I want to 

take issue with your words about the sincerity of the issue. 

This is not easy guys. This is not an easy issue. It is, in fact, 

what we found in the military. Whether it's a man or it's a woman, 

they set the tone and the tenor for the environment for which pe0-

ple are to work in. 

And individuals need to be treated with equal human ~ty, irregardless of their race, irregardless of their gender. And It'S tliose 

senior-level management. In fact, it goes all the way to the top that 

sets that tone. 

And hopefully we don't have tot..,Mr. Chairman, Mr. Clfbum, get into the micromanagement, but rm eager for this hearmg today. 

Thankyou. 

Mr. EvERETT. Thank you. 

Senator Lauch Faircloth, you're a distinguished senator from 

North Carolina. And we most welcome you to this hl!&ring. We ap- preciate that you really kind of started this ball rolling. And now 

we're ready to receive your testimony. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Thank you, Chairman Everett. 

STATEMENT OF SENATOR LAUCH FAIRCLOTH 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. I appreciate very much your lettinJ me be with 

you teday and appear before your subcommittee to discuss important matter. And it's one that, as has been stated before, has not 

been properly addressed. 

The p~blem of sexual harassment within the Department of Veterans Affairs was initia1!y brought to my attention by then scandal 

surroundinJr Jerome Calhoun at the Fayetteville, North Carolina 

VA Medicaf Center. Of course, one reason it got to me quickly was 

that Fayetteville is only about 35 miles from my home. But we all 

know the situation that existed there with Calhoun. 

Today I would like to present to the subcommittee a constructive 

measure that would prevent such a blatant abuse of authority from 

occurring again. 

The measure I speak of is Senate Bill 801, which Senator Graham of Florida, Seriator Hutchinson of Arkansas and I are ~nsoring, and House Bill 1703. This legislation establishes the Office of 

Employment Discrimination Complaints Resolution. Now, that is a 

governmental mouthful, but we mow what it's sayillg. This office would be run by a director, who would report only to 

the Secretary or Assistant Secretary of the VA. 
7 

This change represents a significant difference in the way VA 

currently handles sexual harassment and other employment discrimination claims. Believe it or not, the current process, which 

was in effect down at Fayetteville, allows for complaints to be handled within the facility where they originate. In other words, when 

these women complained down at the Fayetteville Medical Center, 

they went to Jerome Calhoun, whom they were complaining 

against. So it became a ludicrous situation. 

This bill would centralize the authority for handling complaints 

and guarantee that officials at the very highest level are held accountable for the agency's response. Accountability was something 

sorely missing in the Jerome Calhoun case. 

Further, this bill requires the Secretary of the VA to provide 

Congress annually with a detailed report of the progress of the 

OEDCR. Obviously, congressional oversight is needed within this 

area of the VA. As has been mentioned, ifs not the role of the Congress to micromanage, but when we clearly see that the individual 

departments will not manage, then ifs incumbent upon us as elected officials to act. 

Had Congress not addressed the Calhoun incident, it well might 

have been kept totally under wraps. 

The VA is likely to recommend that changes in the process be 

made internally and at the discretion of the FARC. We had tried 

that. It didn't work. 

Mr. Chairman, this is needed legislation because the VA has previously responded to congressional pressure by saying it would 

adopt an absolute zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment. 

Jesse Brown himself stated that he would be personally responsible 

for the policy's implementation. Well, 4 years later and even the 

VA itself states that "The policy of zero tolerance has been insufficient to create a culture within the Department"-rm quoting-"in 

which harassment and discrimination are neither tolerated nor 

condoned. " 

"Zero tolerance" has come to mean tolerance tolerate. And that 

simply became the policy in the VA hospitals around the country, 

anything goes, because if you complain, you simply go to the man 

who is running the hospital. And he pretty much says, "Forget it." 

It seems clear to me that changes in the way claims are handled 

must be mandated by Congress legislatively. Only then will the 

employees of the VA be assured of a secure and reliable workplace. 

Mr. Chairman, to this day I find it absolutely ridiculous that Jerome Calhoun was handling the complaints that were lodged 

against him. And thafs simply what was going on. If this legislation had been in place, the situation would never have occurred. 

And, lastly, Mr. Chairman, I would ask and hope for the cooperation of your subcommittee on this, that until Jerome Calhoun is 

fired, officials in the VA are not doing their job. And the Departmenfs employees are not being justly treated. 

For those of you who might not have been aware, at long last, 

when Jesse Brown decided to act, the punishment he placed on 

Calhoun was a transfer to Florida and a salary increase with less 

responsibility. 
8 

Now, I think it is incumbent upon us as members of the Congress and elected officials to not stop. And I do not intend to until 

at least this one man is fired. 

Mr. Chairman, I thank you for allowing me to be with you, and 

I thank the other members of the committee for allowing me to testify. Thank you. 

{The ~repared statement of Senator Faircloth appears on p. 73.] 

Mr. EvERETT. Thank you for your testimony.· 

I might say that in regard to Mr. Calhoun, this committee instructed the VA to conduct further investigations down at Fayetteville. I understand that that has been done or, rather, is in the 

process of being finalized. 

And I, too, Share your view that unless we make this person 

stand for the alleged offenses that he is alleged to have committed, 

then I don't think anybody would take any kind of policy seriously. 

And that probably underscores the reason that we Should have the 

legislation that you testified for the House bill and the Senate bill. 

rm hopeful that we'll be able to do that. 

I don't know if you're aware of some of the testimony that we 

had over here, but we actually had testimony from the women involved. One of the secretaries actually heard people laughing about 

the complaints that were filed. She was in a JlOIlIition to hear that. 

And tha.t shows you how far out of hand this has gotten. And it 

also shows you the culture that exists in accepting this kind of 

behavior. 

That's one reason that I submitted my legislation, which had 

been submitted earlier, as pointed out by Mr. Evans and other cosponsors. And it's also one reason that I feel as though resolved 

that we should have legislation on this. 

rd recognize our ranking member, Mr. Clyburn, now for any 

comments he mayhave. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you, Senator, for being here today. I do want to say, 

thought before I ask any question, that I would hope that this hearing wil continue to pursue what we are here to pursue. I think the 

senator used a term in a quote rou have there, an institutional 

"culture." That is what we're trying to get at. And I don't think 

that we will do ourselves any real pride by focusing on anyone 

person. 

Remember, we had Atlanta before Fayetteville. I understand 

we've got Seattle going on subsequent to Fayetteville. And I understand that maybe out in the State of California we've got another 

problem. So _getting rid of Mr. Calhoun is not going to solve the 

problem in Seattle, nor will it solve the problem in the State of 

California. It didn't solve the problem in Atlanta. 

So what I would hope that we would do is try to focus on policies 

and procedures that will allow us to root out these kinds of things 

when they occur and not try to find any specific scapegoat. 

Now, a problem that I have with all of this is that we got this 

legislation through the House the last time. There was a companion b~l I believe, in 1993 in the Senate. And, of course, I understand mat it didn't go anywhere. Senator, do you think that there 

is a willinpess on the part of the Senate this time to hang with 

us on this 18sue? 
9 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Yes, I do. As you kno~J~ mentioned Senator 

Graham from Florida and Senator Tim Hu . son of Arkansas are 

still sponsoring the bill with me. And I'm sure the Senate will hang 

with you and go straight forward. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Well, thank you. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. I don't see any--

Mr. CLYBURN. I am really pleased to hear that because, though 

I am very proud of this body over here and proud to be a member 

of it, the way this structure is up here, we sometimes get highly 

disappointed with all the work we put into things and find out that 

there are some stran,e rules on the other side that keep up from 

really getting some 0 these things to fruition. So I'm glad to hear 

that. 

Let me ask you about Fayetteville. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. 

Mr. CLYBURN. I want to ask you about Fayetteville. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Yes. 

Mr. CLYBURN. I was in Fayetteville some months ago on a matter 

that had absolutely nothin2 to do with this issue. In fact, I was not 

even aware of the issue wlien I went there for another reason. My 

wife and I spent 2 days there. But everywhere we went, no matter 

what the gatherin~ was, everybody was talking about the VA Medical Center and thiS sexual harassment problem. It seemed to have 

taken on a life of its own throughout the community far beyond the 

facility itself. 

Did you visit Fayetteville at all or have you visited there since 

thi s. ? 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. I have not visited since. Of course, over the years 

I've been there many times. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Yes. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. But I have not actually visited the hospital since 

this incident. 

Mr. CLYBURN. I was just wondering: Have you gotten any reports 

from employees any direct reports, about what may be employee 

attitudes and w~t may be the morale inside the center? I was just 

wondering whether or not--

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Since this event? 

Mr. CLYBURN. Yes, sir. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Well, I think that, as you well know, the ladies 

that were involved, of course, testified here before your committee. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Yes, sir. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. And they were over in the Senate and testified 

also. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Oh, they did? 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. And they gave some similar testimony. I think 

there's a strong feeling among the hospital feople now that I have 

talked to-I've talked to the people; I haven t actually been therethat something is going to be done. They feel like that, for once, 

it's at least out of the closet, that Calhoun is gone, that we were 

able to at least get him moved and out of the way. So there is a 

great feeling that the Congress is taking a strong action and is 

going to do something, yes. 

Mr. CLYBURN. WeIf, as you may not know, I have almost two decades of experience with these kinds of matters. I agree with you 
10 

that. no matter what remedy we come up with, administratively 

there must be something in the process that takes this outside a 

facility or you will never get any credibility to the issue at all. 

And I don·t think we need to say to the people that in order to 

get a real adequate redress to whatever your grievance may be, 

you·ve got to wait until you get to court and go out and hire an attomey and do all of this. I think we ought to be able to have an 

administrative remedy that people will have faith and confidence 

in. And I agree with you. and I thank you for your testimony. Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Thank you. 

Mr. EVERETT. ~J other member? Mr. Buyer? Mr. BUYER. Th you. 

Senator, when )"ou learned of this, these levels of discrimination 

that were at the VA hospital within your state, what type of co- o~ration did you receive from the Secretary of the VA? 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Practically none. I used an eJtJ?ression once that 

gettiJlg information was like eating ice cream WIth a knitting needle. It was worse than that getting it out of the VA. They simply did not want to cooperate. Mr. BUYER. And, you know. I can understand why. At our first 

hearing we talked about, we called the sentencing-well, we won't 

call it sentencing. I guess it was a proposed dealt a Club Med level 

of punishment for sexual harassment. I cowd see why they 

wouldn't want all of that exposed. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Well, yes certainly. 

Mr. BUYER. So I can understand why. I'm just as curious as to 

whether they were either more or less cooperative with the Senate, 

as opposed to the House, because we found that a little difficult. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. No more cooperative whatsoever. Mr. BUYER. One thing, I am also a cosponsor of this legislation. 

And I don't mind laying the mark on the table. I wanted to ask this 

question of you. In the military, when Aberdeen first broke, there 

were a lot of people who jumped out and said, "Oh, we have to 

have an ombudsman. We have to have something that goes around 

the chain" because at Aberdeen you, in fact, had drill sergeants 

who were abusers and you also had a company commander, who 

was also involved. And you had victims that didn't have avenues 

and access to report criminal behavior. 

And so then there was this eall for an ombudsman. And we 

began to look at it and see that the chain of command is. in fact, 

pretty important. And weakening. things beginninJ. to weaken, in 

the chain of command is not a good thing in the military. And then you talk about management as oqanizations. I don't 

care whether it's for at IBM or the VA. If we liave a director and 

he needs to set that tone of the environment for people to work in. 

if we remove too much of his supervision. his abilities to provide 

a workplace. are we weakening him at all? 

So if we say we're going~to take a facility director and we remove 

him completely from the EEO proce:h from a management standpoint, are we weakening him too m or should he at least have 

some type-if a complaint is made. should he at least have knowledge or somehow participate? I'm trying to figure out how we can 

best move this legislation. I'd be interested in your comments on 

the management aspect of this. . 
11 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Well, I would have no problem at all in him 

being notified that the complaint has been filed and it is being 

moved to the Secretary of VA or the Assistant Secretary. I think 

he absolutelr should be notified and have a chance to respond. In the pnvate sector, certainly if somebody files an EEO or a 

complaint, it comes to the-in our organization, people running the 

company would get it immediately. Now, they don't have final authority on it, but they are very much made aware of it. And I think 

the same should be true with the VA. 

I can't imagine it going completely around him. Now, it wouldn't 

necessarily have to go through him, but he should be made aware 

of it and have an opportunity to be involved in the investigation. 

Mr. BUYER. Or take any kind of corrective actions or take management decisions and that type of thing. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. To report-that he had already corrected it. But 

it still should go to the Secretary for final dispensation. 

Mr. BUYER. Thank you, Senator. 

I yield back the balance of my time. 

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Mascara? 

Mr. MAsCARA. 'lllank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

I would like to associate myself with your remarks. And I agree 

that he should be fired. As a county commissioner for a lot of years, 

the first thing that I did in 1980 was to separate the responsibilities of the personnel director and the EEO officer. They said, 

"Well, we're saving money." 

I said, "I can't help that. Those two need to be separated." And 

it's incomprehensible that 171ears later I'm witnessing what's 

happening here with the VA an this VA facility. 

You're right, Mr. Clyburn. Mr. Calhoun is just the tip of the iceberg. Someone should say tomorrow morning that no facility director will serve as the EEO officer. Is that the case? Are other facility 

directors serving as--

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. I don'~ 

Mr. MAsCARA. I think tomorrow morning someone should say, 

"End. No more" because I saw what could happen in my own county, back in Washington County, Pennsylvania. 

So I agree with you, sir, and I appreciate your coming over here 

and giving testimony to us. I hope that this committee will act appropriately and swiftly to change the system, whatever it takes to 

change the system. We just can't let that go on. 

'lllank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Thank you. 

And I did not in any way mean to make Mr. Calhoun a scapegoat. I think we should start with him and move on to Seattle or 

California or wherever else this is going on. 

And I think it's incumbent upon Mr. Gober to ferret this out and 

fire these people. I don't see just letting them retire or be promoted, as has happened in his case, and any of them. I have no 

idea who the others are. But I think Mr. Gober has the responsibility to seek out and make a disposition of each of them. 

Mr. CLYBURN. I think it's Mr. Mascara's time, but will you yield? 

Mr. MAsCARA. Yes. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Thank you so much. 
12 

Senator, what my concern is is that when you have the Inspector 

General conducting an investigation that we have asked him or her 

to conduct, I think we will do ourselves a disservice if we pursue in the hearing, go to any conclusion that we would like to see 

drawn from tlie Inspector General's investigation. Thafs my fear. 

I have no problem with whatever happens to Mr. Calhoun. But 

we've asked the Inspector General to do it. Let that process work. 

And we ought to stay out of it until we get that report. Thafs all 

I meant. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Well, I can wait until the report comes. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Thank you. 

Mr. EvERETl'. Thank }'Cu. Dr. Snyder. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Mr. Chairman? 

Mr. EvERETl'. Yes, sir? 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. We have a vote thafs ordered at 10 o'clock. So 

if I may wrap up if _anybody has any quick questions? I don'~ 

Mr. EVERETl'. Anybody? We would lik.e to recognize the Senator's 

time. Mr. Bilirakis? 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. 'lllank you very much. 

Senator, I don't know whether you were here during my opening 

statement, bu~ 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Yes, I was. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. My LAlLD here, Rebecca, just reminded me that 

the same comments that I made to Mr. Gober when we talked just 

before the hearing started were the same comments that I made 

to Secretary Brown back when those hearings were held. And that 

is basically the need to codify the good steps that have to be taken 

and because there are changes in the top. So someone could be up there meaning well and doing well and then, all of a sudden, 

there's a change, a change in administration or whatever the case 

may be. And tlien you start all over again quite often. 

So I think-I can't speak for the committee or any of the committees, although I'm on the full committee and on the Health Subcommittee here. But I think we've got to sit down with the VA and 

codify the good things that they're trying to put into effect in addition to maybe some of the ideas that we have. 

Would the Senate be willing to do that also so that we can be 

consistent? 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Oh, I'm sure we would. And, of course, you know 

Bob Graham and Tim Hutchinson. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Yes. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. I'm sure we would. I won't speak for them. But 

I know that I would, and I9'm sure that they would. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Thank you. 

Mr. EVERETl'. I think the comment that Mr. Buyer made earlier 

would be a good place to start for us getting together with Mr. 

Gober. 

Senator, we certainly thank you for being over here today. And 

we appreciate the work, your interest in this. Hopefully you can 

make It back in time for that vote. 

Mr. FAIRCLOTH. We'll make it. Thank you, Chairman Everett. 

Thank you. Mr. EVERETl'. Thank you. I would now like to call Secretary 

Gober and his staff as our second panel. And for each of the wit-
13 

nesses' panels, I ask that each witness limit their testimony, oral 

testimony, to 5 minutes. Your complete written statement will be 

made a part of the official hearing record. 

I would ask our members to hold the questions until the entire 

panel has testified. 

Mr. Secretary, welcome. I would ask you now to introduce your panel. After that, we would hear your testimony, please. 

Mr. GoBER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

STATEMENT OF BON. HERSHEL W. GOBER, ACTING SEC· 

RETARY, DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; ACCOM· 

PANIED BY: BON. KENNETH W. KIZER, MoD., UNDER SEC· 

RETARY FOR HEALTH, VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRA· 

TION; BON. STEPHEN L LEMONS, ACTING UNDER SEC· 

RETARY FOR BENEFITS; BON. EUGENE A. BRICKHOUSE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HUMAN RESOURCES AND ADMIN· 

ISTRATION; MR. NEAL C. LAWSON, ASSISTANT GENERAL 

COUNSEL; MS. PATRICIA A. MCKLEM, DIRECTOR, VA MEDI· 

CAL CENTER, PRESCOTl', AZ; AND Me. VENTRIS C. GIBSON, 

DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF HUMAN RESOURCES, VETERANS BEN· 

EFITS ADMINISTRATION 

Mr. GoBER. I have with me: Dr. Ken Kizer, Under Secretary of 

Health; Dr. Steve Lemons, the Acting Under Secretary for Benefits; 

Mr. Eugene Brickhouse, the Assistant Secretary for Human Resources; Mr. Neal C. LawsoI!t who is the Assistant General Counsel 

and Co-Chair of the EEO \,;omplaint Process Review Task Force; 

Ms. Patricia McKlem, who is the Director of the Prescott, Arizona 

VA Medical Center and Chair of the Secretary's Working Group on 

Sexual Harassment; and Ms. Ventris Gibson, who is the Director 

of Human Resources in the Veterans Benefits Administration and 

was a team leader of the group that recently reviewed issues at the Fay~tteville VA Medical Center. 

Mr. EvERE'M'. Mr. Secretary, thank you for introducing your staff. I think you sensed the mood of perhaps over in the Senate 

and the House on the pending legislation. And we'1l hear your testimony now. I'm sure you'1l have something to say about that also. 

Mr. GoBER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, it's a pleasure to be 

here. I'm pleased to be here to testify about the very important issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. There are four areas that I would like to address today: first an 

update on the issues at the Fayetteville, North Carolina Medical 

<renter; second, a review of all pending complaints and claims at 

the Fayetteville Medical Center; and, third, plan for changing the 

EEO procedures within VA; and, finally, results of the VA sexual 

harassment survey. 

We have made great progress in resolving the issues at the Fay- etteville Medical Center. We take very seriously the negative impact of this issue on the employees at Fayetteville. And we are 

working hard to heal the emotional wounds which have occurred. 

The employees at Fayetteville are good people, and I am disturbed that they were subjected to such a difficult situation. We 

are now engaged in the process of making sure that the medical 

center is a workplace worthy of the commitment and dedication re-
14 

peatedly shown by its employees. They remain faithful in their 

service to veterans during some very trying times. 

I personally visited the Fayetteville VA Medical Center on June 

5 to meet with all of the employees and reassure them that I am 

aware of the problems that exist there. I conveyed my sensitivity 

about the number of reviews which have been conducted at the 

Fayetteville Medical Center and the resultant anxiety and discord 

among employees and the negative publicity it generated. I assured 

them that such reviews were necessary in order to get to the very 

root of the problem and to work toward a permanent solution. 

I opened up the discussion for employees to ask any question 

they wanted. They had a chance to ask me any_question they wanted to. Every question asked of me was about "How can we get more 

resources to do more for our veterans?"; not one self-serving question. These are good, hard-working people. 

Mr. Chairman, that's what we're about in VA, taking care of veterans. And that's why it is so important that we resolve this issue 

so we can move forward and accomplish the things that we need 

to do for veterans. 

VA employees should not have to worry about how they will be 

treated when they come to work. They should know that they will 

be able to work in an environment in which there is respect for 

every individual and value placed on their contributions. ln that 

kind of work environment, they can devote 100 percent of their 

time and energy to the important work at hand. 

I have sent a memorandum to the employees of the Fayetteville Medical Center thanking them for their continued professionalism 

and compassion toward our veterans. It further assures them that 

they should not fear any act of reprisal by any official. And I am 

pleased to share a co~y of the memorandum with the committee. 

On May 16, I comlIllssioned a team of highly experienced professionals to determine the progress of all pending complaints complaining in the Fayetteville VA Medical Center, regardless of 

whether the employees filed the complaints under the EEO discrimination complaint procedures, the grievance procedures, or 

through the Office of the Ins:pector General. 

I also charged the team WIth determining if Fayetteville employees were reassigned, transferred, demoted, or otherwise harmed by 

order of or action by the former director. I gave the team broad authority to review any other issues they found that we should make 

sure received the attention of the interim management team. 

The team visited Fayetteville on May 21 for a 10-day period 

speaking with approximately 100 employees and examining a large 

number of official records and other relevant documents. After analyzing the information, the team returned to Fayetteville on June 

16 to obtain sworn statements. The findings of the team are now 

being reviewed for a~li~opriate personnel action. 

To further the he . g and restoration of employees at Fayetteville, I approved the detail of an interim EEO manager, a human 

resource management specialist in the Veterans Benefit Administration, Mr. Austin LeWIS. He is highly respected, extremely knowledgeable. 

He has conducted training, a program for supervisors and managers to ensure that they fully understand the EEO responsibil-
15 

ities. Next week he will provide EEO training with emphasis on 

discrimination complaint procedures, employees' rights to all Fayetteville VA Medical Center employees. 

Mr. Michael Phaup has been the Acting Director of the VAMC 

Durham. He has been the Acting Director since May 2. He has 

done a great job down there in providing direction and leadership while serving as a stabilizing force during this difficult period. 

He has refocused the attention of the medical center on quality 

care and customer satisfaction and re2UIarly tours the medical center and work site, where he informally interacts with the employees, patients, and visitors. In addition, he has established and put 

into place a process for recruitment and selection of personnel for 

vacant positions. 

A new management team for the Fayetteville VA Medical Center 

will be in place very soon. Yesterday I selected Mr. Richard J. 

Baltz, the current Associate Director of the VA Medical Center in 

Jackson, Mississippi, to serve as Director of the Faretteville Medical Center beginning July 27. Mr. Baltz will be commg to Was~­

ton, DC and will be available to meet with any members of this 

subcommittee or anyone else that would like to meet with him. 

With a new director in elace and employees understanding that 

the practices of the past will not be tolerated, we believe that there 

will be a dramatic Improvement in employee morale and a workplace which encourages and supports the best services possible for 

our veterans. 

On May the 27th-28th, finalists for the Chief of Staff position 

were interviewed at the University of North Carolina School of 

Medicine, Division 6 Office and the Fayetteville Medical Center. 

The final selection for Chief of Staff, however, will be made by the 

new Medical Center Director, Mr. Baltz. 

Morale of the employees at Fayetteville has been a major concern 

for me and for the leadership at the VA. A team of skilled chaplains has been providing counseling support to staff at the medical 

center. They were well-received by employees who use their services. Meetings with the chaplains were confidential and allowed 

many employees to express their emotions and concerns in a safe, 

supportive environment. 

With r~ard to the employees at the Fayetteville Medical Center-and I think this is very important-who suffered adversely because of actions or decisions of the former director, it is our intent 

to do everything possible to make them whole. 

Mr. Chairman, I realize I've run over my time. And I would ask 

that my written statement be entered into the record. 

Mr. EvERETl'. So ordered. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Gober appears on p. 76.] 

Mr. EvERETT. Any of the others? Dr. Kizer, did you have a statement? Anybody else have a statement from the panel? 

Dr. KIzER. I have no prepared statement. 

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Chairman? 

Mr. GoBER. I did not cover everything that I--

Mr. EVANS. Would it be permissible to ask for an additional 5 

minutes for the Secretary to--

Mr. EVERETl'. Sure. Yes. You didn't notice it, Mr. Secretary, but 

I had motioned for the clock to be cut off so that you could go 
16 

ahead and finish your testimony. So we can give you some additional time. 

Mr. GoBER. Well, I had figured I had already gone through the 

green, the orange, and the red. And so I thought it might be time 

to stop so that you could get to asking the questions. 

I would appreciate that time because this is a very important 

issue to us. And our folks work very hard to provide the committee 

with the answers. 

Mr. EvERETT. You never got to the red. I had already cut the 

clock off before that. 

Mr. GoBER. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. EvERETT. If you're preeared to continue please do. 

Mr. GoBER. Within the facility, we will establish an interim EEO 

advisory committee that will replace the people who have been 

serving as EEO personnel there to make sure that we are starting with a clean slate. 

Our m~or concern is the well-being of our employees. And we 

want to make sure they know and believe that we will make the 

EEO complaint process work in their behalf. In the meantime, we 

will continue providing progress reports to this committee every 60 

days until there is a consensus between us that Fayetteville is back 

on the right track. 

We have learned many lessons in dealing with the Fayetteville 

issue. And I am duty-bound to institute systems at all levels at the 

VA to see that our hones~ hard-working employees are never again subjected to the misuse 01 power. 

I intend to make all employees, including line supervisors at all 

levels, accountable for thell' actions. And I intend to promote and 

enforce a secure working environment for all VA employees. In that 

regard, on May 15 this year, I announced that an agency task force 

would be ~pointed to review and propose a more credible EEO 

system for VA. 

The task force was charged with three responsibilities. First, it 

was to examine the present EEO process. Second, it was to determine whether the current process requires change. And, third, it 

was to report to me by July 1 with the recommended changes it 

deemed necessary and appropriate. The task force also, as you recall, promised this committee that we would do this and have the 

report back within 60 days. 

The task force has provided me its report. And rm in general 

agreement with its findings and recommendations. This report and 

my reaction have been provided to this committee. 

The recommendations closely resemble the model set out in H.R. 

1703. Additionally, the recommendations respond to criticism 

raised by this committee and others regarding the role of line management in the complaint process. The report recommends that facility directors no longer function 

as EEO officers; a separate Office of Complaint Resolution be established and given total responsibility for complaint processing; 

the Office of Complaint Resolution report to the Secretary through 

the Assistant Secretary of Human Resources, rather than through 

a line component; and EEO counselors and investigators be primarily full-time employees appointed and supervised by the Office 

of Complaint Resolution. 
17 

In short, management of EEO complaint processing has been 

moved outside the normal chain of command. This does not mean 

the facility m8llaJ.er is relieved of responsibility. It is important to 

maintain a comlIlltment to zero tolerance of sexual harassment. 

Making sure that all the employees understand that sexual harassment is not appropriate behavior in the workplace has always 

been the responsibility of the facility manager. In fact, it is the responsibility of every supervisor, manager, and employee. 

I believe the structural change in the EEO complaint process is 

entirely consistent with and aChieves the major objectives of H.R. 

1703 without the need for legislation. And it preserves the Department's administrative discretion to further adjust the process 

quickly and efficiently as circumstances require. 

We do want to make sure that implementation of the new process is a team effort involving leadership at the national level and 

management at the facility level and oversight by the appropriate 

congressional committees. We also intend to involve and enlist the 

talent and experience of employees throughout the system at all 

levels of employment. As a result of the report of the task force, I have directed that 

an implementation committee be assembled to establish goals, 

milestones, and dates to bring about the necessary change. This 

committee will be directed to present its report for information to 

me no later than October 1 of this year. Then we'll begin the work 

of chan~g our procedures to make sure that a fair and mutual 

process 18 implemented. 

Finally, the recently completed survey of VA employees on sexual 

harassment issues was conducted under contract by Klemm Analysis Group following recommendations by the Secretary's ad hoc 

working group on sexual harassment. 

The final report on this survey was delivered to VA by the contractor on Monday of this week.. And a copy of this survey was provided to this committee on that same day. 

The survey clearly demonstrates that V Ns actions over the last 

5 years have made a positive impact in dealing with the issues of 

sexual harassment in the workplace. The VA will meet the challenge on this issue head on. 

Make no mistake, Mr. Chairman. VA is firmly committed to 

making the agency an employee first choice and ensuring that a 

fair and mutual process outside the control of local management is 

available to those employees who believe they have been victims of 

discrimination. 

Mr. Chairman, I have used and will continue to use every appropriate forum. at my disposal, including the Congress, to send the 

message to VA employees that sexual harassment and discrimination will not be tolerated or condoned at any level in any circumstance under this administration. And I expect all managers in 

the chain of command and all employees to do fikewise. . Mr. Chairman, this completes my statement. We're prepared to 

answer any of your questions. Mr. EvERETT. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Secretary, rm tempted to say fool me once, fool me twice. 

Mr. Secretary, since our April 17 hearing, we've seen a lot of sin-
18 

cere effort by the VA to address specific areas I requested to be addressed. And I commend rou for it. 

We have had some pnvate conversations as well as your testimony today. And I sincerely appreciate your efforts in that direction. I have no reason to doubt that you're heading in the direction 

the committee would like for you to head. 

In your prepared remarks, you stated thatJour recommendations include putting in place an organization structure that in 

large measure resembles the model set out in H.R. 1703. Now, I 

will commend you for your choice of models on that. 

I agree that it would accomplish much of what H.R. 1703 and the 

Senate companion bill, S. 801, would do. There remain some important differences between VA's outlined approach and the House 

and the Senate bills, which I want our staffs to explore, particularly the sense of the use of collateral duty employees and the role 

of the General Counsel's office. 

I do at this time, however, remain committed to taking legislative action. I think given VA's EEO organization, a statutory imprint has a virtue of its own and does not really distract from VA's 

flexibility issue, which we can discuss. 

No siRnificant changes I'm aware of have been made to V Ns current EgO organization in quite some time. And I've not noticed 

that the Executive Branch usually moves any faster than the LeJlislative Branch when changes are needed. In 1993, you know onTy 

too well that Congress, especially the House, was willing to move 

but VA was not. 

Having made that, let me also say, Mr. Secretary, I recognize 

that my question here, the next issue I'm ~ing to touch on, is essentially a sensitive area and that your ability to respond publicly 

may be limited. 

At the April 17 hearing, I asked the VA to investigate allegations 

of misconduct by the former director of Fayetteville beyond, beyond 

the three cases of sexual harassment investigated by the VA's Inspector General. Has that been done? 

Mr. GoBER. The investigation has been completed. And I think 

that's all I'd like to say publicly. 

Mr. EvERE'rr. I understand. I appreciate it. 

I think I made it very clear in the April 17 hearing-and you 

touched on it in your testimony. I'm very concerned that the VA 

does everything possible to make Mr. Calhoun's victims whole. 

Could you go in a little more detail about that? 

Mr. GoBER. Yes, sir. We are going to do that. AB I said, we're 

looking. It has been looked at, everyone that had a complaint or it 

looked like there was some action taken that shouldn't have been 

taken. We are going to do everything we can to make it right. In some cases, in one case, a person that has left the agency, left 

the medical center, is being brought back. And we're trying to deal 

with each case individually and do the right thing. 

Mr. EvERETT. I think you recognize, Mr. Secretary, this committee, recognizes that it was an extreme act of courage for these 

women to testify. And we're extremely concerned that no reprisals 

are taken against them. I would like your assurance that any that 

you hear of would be investigated immediately. 
19 

Mr. GoBER. Absolutely. There will be no reprisals. There will be 

no retaliations because that to me is a far more serious offense 

than some of the other offenses that we have. And we will deal 

with ~bodl that does that. 

I don t think we'll have that happen there because Fayetteville has been under the spotlight so much that I think that we won't 

have that happen. But if we do have it happen, violators will be 

dealt with very rapidlz. 

Mr. EvERETT. I aon t know what you can do about the cold shoulder approach, and I don't know that that's happening. If it is hap- pening, I would say to those who have been yery helpful to us m 

this inv~ation, I simply wouldn't let anybody control my life 

that way. But anything that you hear of that nature, this committee would like to mow. 

I had intended to start the 5-minute clock on myself. So rm 

going to cut my questions at this time because I feel like rm at the 

5-minute. rn turn to the I'Illlkin2 member, Mr. Clyburn. And we 

will probably have a second round: 

Mr. CLYBURN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me thank you, Mr. 

Secretary, for being here. 

I thinK you said in your testimony that you now have the report 

from the task force. 

Mr. GoBER. Yes, sir. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Now, having looked at that report from the task 

force-and I think you visited. Did you visit Fayetteville? 

Mr. GoBER. Yes sir. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Well...l. how would you characterize the people's attitudes toward the EEu process within the VA--

Mr. GoBER. Well, I tliink--

Mr. CLYBURN (continuing). The employees' attitudes? 

Mr. GoBER. The task force recognized that we have to make 

some changes. And I want to say this. I am disapPOinted that we 

didn't do this earlier. It's always lOU find 80methiriLlike this, and 

you say, "Gosh. That sticks out like a sore thumb. Why didn't we 

ao that earlier?" And I guess that is not an excuse I but I guess it's 

the thing you've got so much on your plate you Qon't know what 

to eat first. And that's not an excuse in any way, but we recognized 

that the system needed to be fixed. 

Fayetteville pointed that out very graphically that it had to be 

fixed. A situation like that should have bubbled to the surface very, 

very quickly. And we should have been able to pick up on that. 

You asked a question of Senator Faircloth earlier, Mr. Clyburn, 

that I would like to comment on, the morale of the people at Fay- etteville, at the VA Medical Center. I was amazed. They ~y 

didn't want to talk about this. They want to get beyond it. I think th~~ felt like that we are interested in doing it now. 

We have had the team down there. The team that went down 

there did a great investiption. And I think that they want to move 

beyond it, beyond this 81tuation, and they want to get back to becoming a center of excellence to take care of our veterans, which 

I have nothing but the greatest admiration for them. They're a 

wonderful bunch of Pf3Ople. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Well, Mr. Gober, I appreciate hearing that. My 

background and experience in this field tell me and the fact that 
20 

I am the father of three daughters I know a little something about 

the issue of sexual harassment. And the people who are not subjected to it may want to get beyond it, but the people who have 

been subjected to it, the people whose dignities have been compromised and the people whose workforce environment has been 

poisoned, rm not too sure that they want to get behind them or to 

Ignore or want anybody else to ignore it. 

I think Ms. Gibson headed the team down there that did this investigation. And maybe we ought to let some of the-would you like to respond to that or do you feel comfortable responding? 

Ms. GIBSON. Specifically, sir, the environment there is one of 

healing at this time, especially post Mr. Gober's visit, especially 

JK>St tlie team having spent a total on 2 different visits of 24 days 

there. 

Concerning how people feel about putting sexual harassment behind them? If they are victims of sexual harassment, typically it's 

been my experience that there is a measure of relief once attention 

is given and we consider the sensitivity of what has happened to 

the individual and that appropriate mechanisms are put in place 

to make that person whole and the environment whole. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Well, let me ask you this. Do you think based 

upon the aura that you encountered there and from what IOU 

heard from people there1 do you really believe that people woul be 

satisfied with the process that kept the administrative remedy 

within the facility? 

Ms. GIBSON. The team heard several versions of employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the current EEO process. Some employees believe that the process does not work. Some employees 

who have never experienCed the process obviously have no comments. Others who have experienced the process seem to feel that 

that process worked for them depen~ on the nature and the type of complaint filed. However, it was the general feeling of the emplo)'e8s that we met with that the process needed repairing. 

Mr. CLYBURN. I agree. My question, though, is you can repair the 

process and still keep the administrative remedy, the ultimate administrative remedy, in the agency or within the facilitY.. 

Ms. GIBSON. I believe the EEO task force's finding WIthin the Department is one that would, in fact, repair the process and work 

very well for the Department. 

Mr. CLYBURN. I hear you, but I want you to hear me. How do 

you define repair? Now, we understand. We're going to try to repair 

this process. Now, rm trying to get beyond repair and talk about 

the kind of repair. My problem is I cannot seem-maybe rm wrong 

about this, Mr. Chairm.an, but I keep hearing that the ultimate repair will not go to the issue of who has the final admjnistrative 

say.-so about this. 

Now, you heard what the senator said about the EEO officer 

being the director of the facility. I think that is ridiculous. rve 

never seen it work. And rm talking about one who has supervised 

maybe somewhere between 15 and 20 thousand allegations of sexual harassment, race discrimination, gender discrimination. rve 

never seen that process work. And I don't think you will find any instance in any admjnistrative procedure where it has ever worked. 

And if you do, I want to hear about it. 
21 

So my question, then, is: How can we have a successful repair? 

You can go through the process, but do you really believe that the 

people at Fayetteville the people in Seattle and California and Atlanta will be satisfied with the repair process that keeps the final 

administrative remedy within the De~artment? 

And nobody wants to go out and hire lawyers every time they've 

got an allegation. These lawyers are going to take these cases if 

they see a clear road to success because they know they only get 

paid if they win. 

Now, we don't want people to have to hire lawyers every time 

they've got something that ought to be provided for with administrative remedies. And so we have been proposing in our legislation, !n lOur legislation, Mr. Chairman, that we go to administrative law 

Judges. 

rm sa~g: Do you really believe that those peo:(>le would be satisfied WIth a p,rocess that kept the final admimstrative remedy 

within the institution? 

Mr. GoBER. You're saying within the medical center? Our process 

moves it out. We're mo~ it out of there. The task force recommended that the medical center directors not have the authority 

to make this remedy. All of it comes through a new office created, 

by administrative reorganization which reports to Central Office 

and processes all of the complaints. 

Mr. CLYBURN. That is still within the agency? 

Mr. GoBER. Oh, yes, sir. It's within the Department of Veterans 

Affairs. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Which is different from what we have been propos- ing._ 

Mr. GoBER. Yes, sir. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Okay. Now we understand-and I may be wrong about this, but I understand that around 60 or 70 cases that went 

to the General Counsel's Office have been overturned because of 

error found at the lower level, 3!~Jk what, 90 percent of them--

Mr. GoBER. Two-thirds, sir, I . it is. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Two-thirds? 

Mr. GoBER. Two-thirds of them. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Well, that may be in--

Mr. GoBER. That's the initial---

Mr. CLYBURN (continuing). Round numbers, but the actual numbers that I saw seemed to add up to a little bit more than twothirds. In fact, if we do a percentage on it, two-thirds is 66 percent, 

67, two-thirds. 

Mr. GoBER. Yes, sir. 

Mr. CLYBURN. I think we have come up with 85 percent. That's 

more than three-fourths since 1981. 

Mr. LAWSON. The last 3 years in the EEOC annual reports I 

think were 81 percent, 73 percent, and 66 percent. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Where you sustain the findings at the lower level? 

Mr. LAWSON. No. These were--

Mr. CLYBURN. Overturned? 

Mr. LAWSON. These were recommended decisions by EEOC administrative judges that found discrimination which we set aside. 

Mr. CLYBURN. So you set aside 81 percent, 70-some odd percent, 

and 60-some odd percent? Now, if you add that together and aver-
22 

age those 3, you're still going to be around 75 percent, around 

throe-quarters. 

Mr. LAWSON. It could be, yes. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Yes, sir. Now, you're telling me that a process that 

fails that often you would call a good process? 

Mr. LAWSON. Well, this is the process that EEOC has in effect 

for all government agencies. I can note that across the government, there is a fairly high rejection rate of recommended findings of discrimination. Ours is somewhat higher than other agencies. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Absolutely. 

Mr. LAWSON. But there is at least one agency higher than ours. 

So I think. that has to be looked at in terms of the mix. There is 

a high general rejection rate across the government. 

Mr. CLYBURN. I want you to know, Mr. Lawson, you're talking 

to someone who sat on the task force to help to rewrite that 

stuff--

Mr. LAWSON. I understand. 

Mr. CLYBURN (continuing). When we were trying to get federal 

employees at administrative levels. We brou~ht EEOC in it because, if you recall, before EEOC was brought mto it, a federal employee had to step outside of the system and really had no real 

good administrative remedy. We were trying to give administrative 

remedies. 

Mr. LAWSON. Exactly. And that--

Mr. CLYBURN. So all I'm saying is if you've got a process that's 

trying to give people administrative remedies and that process 

seems to be breaking down every time it's used, then we ought to 

repair that, don~~you think? 

Mr. LAWSON. Well, I guess the criticism of the proposal under the 

bill is that if the perception is that the agency is the judge of itself, 

is the bill going to correct that perception? Essentially the administrative law judges, as I understand it, 

under the bill would be agency employees. They would be hired by the VA. They would be supervised by the VA. They would be evaluated by the VA. So they would be in no different position in terms 

of decision-making than the present decision-makers and--

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Chairman, this is your legislation. I don't 

want to be trying to defend your legislation, but I don't mind defending it. 

Mr. EVERETT. I would point out that the ranking member is absolutely on target. And this Committee relies heavily on the experience that the ranking member has had in this line. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Well, I appreciate that. And you're so kind. I have 

some experience with administrative law judges. And administrative law judges, in spite of the fact that they may be housed inside 

of the facility, it's like the Inspector General. There's an independence to the administrative law judge that you will not find in the 

General Counsel's Office or that you will not find in the directorship of the facility. 

Mr. LAWSON. I was--

Mr. CLYBURN. I'm a little bit insulted for you to sit here and tell 

me--

Mr. LAWSON. No. I didn't mean it the way you took it. What I 

was trying to say is we were talking about perception, the percep-
23 

tion of employees. Is there going to be a perception of fairness? And 

I think the problem with the administrative law judges is within 

the Washington area and for the higher-level employees, they understand wliat administrative law ju<l2es are and they understand 

the degree of ~~~rndence that the ALIs would have. 

However, I . if we're looking at it from a perception standpoint, we have to also look at it in terms of how the rank and file 

would view that process. And if they see that these administrative 

law judges are, in fact, hired by the agency, they are employees of 

the agency, and they are . performing !ncy tasks, the perception 

may well be that it is similar, may be s htly different but similar, 

to the process that presently exists. An that was the concern. If 

the perception of employees is such that the complaint process 

should be chan£ed, it's not absolutely certain that the ALT feature 

would change tliat perception to the rank and file. That's the point 

I'm trying to make. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Well, you're absolutely correct, but one thing that 

is absolutel)' certain, that what has prevailed for the last 4 years is not working and has not worked. And we have done it Secretary 

Brown's way. I'm asking that you do it Chairman Everett's way. 

Let's P7. Chairman Everett's way. And if we need to come back here and clean this up 2 years from 

now or make some modifications to the process, that's fine. But 

let's try something different if what we've got is not wor~. 

I have a little bit of a problem saying, "Well, this new thing may 

not work." It may not. But I really believe that we've got some ~ 

actual factual experience with the current way. And I am a little 

bit concerned about putting in a new process in place that will not 

allow for the final arbiter of these things to have some independence from administrative or managerial oversight over the person's 

next evaluation. 

Mr. GoBER. Of course, I understand the reluctance to let us do 

our own th.in2 based upon the experience of 1993 and then here we 

are again in 1997. 

However, our proposal, Mr. Clyburn, does almost everything that 

the bill, the Chairman's bill, would do except it does not set up the 

ALT, the admjnjstrative law judges. It does keep it within the system. It is a living document. We can change it if it doesn't work. 

We don't need to come back for legislation. We would want to work 

with the EEOC. We would want to work with this committee, the Co~ss to make the system work, a system that would be 

credible. 

But it does do the one important thing. It takes managers at the 

VA hospital or the regional offices, out of the complaint process. It 

makes It independent with a Deputy Assistant Secretary reporting 

up to the Secretary's office. . And it can be done with the resources we currently have, the estimate that we have, while it is that it would cost $17 million more 

start-up costs to implement the bill plus it would cost us $2 million 

or more a year in continuing costs. 

Now, I'm not saying that we don't have to pay something to 

make sure our people have the right frocess and make sure that 

the people are protected and that we re there for them. I really 

think that we can do it, and I think that we could take the process. 
If it's not good right now, our recommendations from the task 

force, if we can work with the committee or anybody else to try to 

change it, I'd like to just keep it as simple as we possibly can but 

make it a JlOOd one. And then we don't have to have legislation to 

change it. We can change it immediately. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Well, I yield back my time, but I want to say to 

you I want to support whatever legislation >,"OU champion over herel but I also want you to know that I'm ~m, to have a real, real 

problem with anything that keeps this thing maide the system. 

Mr. EVERE'rl'. I think the rimking member for his comments, 

and I must say that I've just scratched off a lot of questioning that 

you pursued. And I agree with the comments made by the ranking member. 

One of the problems we're dealing with here is perception becomes real close to being reality. And the perception out there right 

now I would think is not real good. 

Mr. Buyer. 

Mr. BUYER. Thank you. 

Mr. Gober, I was going through your executive summary from 

the task force. When I moved over to recommendations on an overview, the very first paragraph-it's really just two sentences, Mr. 

Clyburn-it says, "The task force concluded that the VA must create a process perceived as objective, fair, and effective by employees, managers, and external stakeholders. In doing so, it is necessary that system im~ents, real or perceived, that resulted in 

management and mampulation of the process be removed." So your 

owner is sayinJ that. So I don't know why you had to go through all of that conslde~ it was already written in there. 

As I was also looking at this Mr. Gober, I noted you had at the 

very beginning, where you had signed the report, said, "I favor a 

more streamlined approach to the headquarters staff with a single 

hifh-level official responsible for V Ns EEO program." hate to belabor my analogies with the active forces but I've 

spent the last 9 months now and, of that, 40 percent of my time 

in Congress has been spent on those issues. So it's hard for me to 

get out of that 'tlimension. And I've lived through some of the difficulties and observations with the United States ~ having allegations against the senior sergeant major, the . est ranking 

NCO in the Army. So as we're going to streamline this process all the way to your headquarters, let's start with the flaawole. And so let me ask you whether there are any pending allegations or complaints regarding sexual harassment in the workplace at the headquarters staff. 

Mr. GoBER. I'm not aware of any. Mr. BUYER. Okay. If, in fact, there were such a complaint at your headquarters staff, how would that be handled? 

Mr. GoBER. It would depend on which level of staff. If it was in 

the Secretary's office, it would be handled, be looked into by someone of a senior rank that I would appoint. If it were at a lower 

level, it would be investigated. We've changed the procedures since Fayetteville. We send in a 

good investigative team in places like that. But here at the headquarters, it would be looked at by someone senior to the person who had been, one person or two people or three people, that were 
25 

senior to the person the allegations were against. And then they would report to me or the chief of staff. 

Mr. BUYER. Are those procedures already in place or are you just 

supposing how you think. it maY' happen? 

Mr. GOBER. Well, the procedures are in place, but I haven't had 

any allegations at that level. We have procedures that would let us 

investigate complaints like that. And we have had complaints IOu 

know in the headquarters but not by high-ranking staff that I'm 

aware of, Mr. Buyer. 

Mr. BUYER. Well, I've seen the Army struggle with. That's why 

1-

Mr. GoBER. Right. 

Mr. BUYER (continuing). Mayas well throw it right into--

Mr. GoBER. Sure. 

Mr. BUYER (continuing). Your camp that you also ought to be 

tbinki in that light--

Mr. ~BER. That's a good ~int. Mr. BUYER (continuing). That it doesn't necessarily always happen in somebody else's watch. It could happen right in your own 

camp. 

The other thing I would like to note is that the Army is under 

the microscope. And the Secretary of the Army I believe did a good 

thing when he organized the senior panel to do a very extensive 

review, not only a domestic basis but around the world. 

Now, I know that you did a survey. Okay? That's a good thing. 

It's also easy. I like the fact that the task force went to Fayette- ~eJ. but I have to sit here and question whether or not we have 

a tw1 understanding of the scope of the problem. If, in fact, we have 33 percent of the women identify the most 

serious allegations over the last 12 months and we've had 9 senior 

within the health side~ has the other side of the house been looked 

at? Fifty-eight regional offices, how is that going to be handled? Do 

we fully understand the scope of the problem? Should you be taking a task force or a panel that has a 3-month or 6-month charter 

and you go out there and you find out what all the systems are and 

let's report back? 

If you're doing that type of thing, I'd like to know about it. If 

you're not going to do that kind of thing, then perhaps here in the 

Congress we may, in fact, come up with our own commission or 

panel and we'11 do that microscopic examination. 

We've had to do it with the military. I don't want to do it with 

the VA, but if we have to, I'd a=ate your comments. 

Mr. GoBER. The Benefits ~istration, Cemetery Systems, they have been surveyed. They're part of this survey. And let me sa:r~this. Yes, we're sensitive to all of it, to each one of the agencies. The Health Department, of course, our VHA, has the largest majority of employees. And there are 172 facilities, hospitals and all 

the outpatient clinics and things like that, scattered around the 

country. So obviously there's where the majority of the complaints 

come n-om because of the environment. But we are sensitive to the 

regional offices and cemeteries. And we did survey those employees 

as well. 

Mr. BUYER. Survey? I'm talking about people goin¥. out, looking in the closets, turning over the stones. I don't know if that's going 
26 

to be done or not done, if the task force-see, you've got a very good 

product here. 

The task force did a great J.ob, I mean, because I'm having to do 

this very same thing. See, it s very easy. I could direct staff to do 

that. That's easy. But for me and Tilley Fowler and others to actually travel the world and see these things, we have been able to 

institute some very good changes. 

So my question is whether you are interested in staking this task 

force out to understand systematic problems in a methodical way. 

And if you're not interested-and we're going to have a discussion 

here on whether we should implement our own commission to do 

an examination--

Mr. GoBER. I'm very much interested in it, very much interested. 

And I put together this team to '-0 to Fayetteville, a SWAT team. 

I'm keeping that team in place. It s going to be my immediate reaction force. Now, that doesn't keep something from happening, but 

the fact is that when I50mething does happen, I want to get there 

very quickly because sometimes there is nothing. 

It's just a rumor or there's nothing happening there. But when 

we have an allegation come up that needs to be looked at, we'll 

have somebody initially go in and say, "Yes. You need a recon of 

the area" and come back and say, "Yes. You've got something happening there." We'll send this team out that when down that Ms. 

Gibson ran down at Fayetteville. And they'll go in. And they did 

a great inves!~ation, and we'll be able to do that. 

I'd like to Dr. Lemons, if he could, to respond to some of your 

concem there, Mr. Buyer. 

Mr. BUYER. Thank you. 

Mr. LEMONS. Mr. Buyer, I would like to identify myself with your 

earlier comments that there are two aspects of this that really need 

to be addressed. One is the discrimination complaints process, how 

complaints are elevated; and what type of attention is paid to 

them. The other is what type of an environment is a manager or 

a supervisor creating amongst the workforce. 

We in VBA have taken a very aggressive stance in both of these 

aspects in our operation. On the complaints aspect, any allegation 

of any type made against any line official is immediately elevated 

to my personal attention. We are consistent with the Acting Secretary's policies in elevating these to the right people who can take 

responsibility for ensuring that an adequate and appropriate investigation and development of altematives for correction of the instant complaint as well as any implications for the environment 

occur. We reinforce the notion that we treat these issues seriously 

and that we will address both of those aspects of the situations. 

Second, we aggressively incorporated affirmative action; and 

managerial responsibility for creating a discrimination-free 

workforce into managers performance standards, and performance 

evaluations. I p4:trsonally issued statements in writing to all employees within VBA about my policies and my desire to ensure that 

I will not only not tolerate any kind of discrimination but will 

quickly investigate and resolve any issues that should be raised by 

anybody in the organization. Mr. BUYER. I thank the Chair's tolerance here in my questioning. 
27 

Are you comfortable that you have an understanding of the scope of the problem? . Mr. GoBER. Yes. Yes, I am. I think I have spent a lot of time on 

this issue, as you knowl

• over the last several months. And I won't 

sit here and begin to tell rou that I know every problem out there, 

but I get at least once, twice a week-well, more than that. We talk 

about areas where we might have problems, and I say, "I want it 

looked at quickly. I don't want somebody else having to come in 

and tell me to go look at it. I want to find it." 

I appreciate working with the committee and the staff of the 

committees because I think. working together we have the same 

goal. And our goal is to make sure we serve veterans. We can't do 

that if we people that don't want to come to work because they're 

being sexually harassed or discriminated against. So we've got to 

get to that. 

Mr. BUYER. How helpful are we to you if this committee were to 

fund an independent commission to examine these issues within 

the VA, do a systematic methodical review, find out what system- atic j)roblems or cultur;i problems? I mean",.if we've got 33 percent of the women talk about most serious allegations, how helpful would we be to you to have an independent commission come in 

and do a review? Would you be receptive and welcome such a 

review? 

Mr. GoBER. Whatever the committee would want to do, of course. 

But I really don't think we have to do that to have that looked at. 

I think this is an issue that we can solve. I feel very comfortable 

about it. 

Mr. BUYER. Okay. 

Mr. GoBER. It's a big issue. Ms. McKlem ran the surveYI worked 

on that, and pointed out to me that, you know, the sexual harassment task force is going to review the results of the survey~ And 

there will be areas where we may need to do other things like do 

visits, send out a team to look at this or look at that. 

I am concerned because we have the top 20 areas where we have 

a lot of ~roblems or we have a lot of comj)laints filed. And that 

could be mdicative of the fact that maybe the system works where 

J)e!)ple are filing complaints. 

If I have a hospital where nobody ever files a complaint, I'd think 

I'd want to go look at that one, too, because there's something 

going on there. You know, that's not always good news. It may 

mean that the people are being told, "You'd better not file a 

complaint." So I think we're getting a pretty good understanding of how this 

works. 

Mr. BUYER. All right. Mr. Chairman, based on the answers here 

from the ~ Secretary, I can understand his hesitance, but I'd 

like to entertain discussions with you and the ranking member 

with regard to an independent commission to come in and actually review these issues with the VA so we can also understand, get a 

thorough SCOJ>e of, in fact, the problem. 

I agree with the AcP.nJ Secretary that these problems are very large and enormous. It IS almost analogous to what we're doing within the National Security Committee for all the services. But I 

would like to entertain those discussions with you at a later date. 
28 

Mr. EvERETl'. The Chair would be more than happy to do so. And 

the Chair also appreciates the ~ence that the gentleman from 

Indiana has had as the Subcomnnttee Chairman of Personnel along 

these lines. And we appreciate your comments. 

Mr. Mascara? 

Mr. MAscARA. Mr. Secretary, I applaud you and commend you 

for your hard work and your sincerity and sensitivity to the issues, 

but I do disagree with you that these matters can be handled administratively. We were burned once. We were burned twice. 

I want to move on to the comparison of features that was in the 

material that I had that looks at the present system, the task force 

recommendations, and the congressional proposal. 

The initial statement here is that the facility director is the EEO 

officer under the present system. Under the task force recommendation, that removes the facility director from the EEO 

process. And, of course, the congressional proposal also does that. 

My question is whether the problems in Fayetteville might be 

just the tip of the iceberg? Are you looking across the board at all 

facilities to remove the facility director from any EEO activities? 

Mr. GoBER. Yes. Yes, sir, across the system. 

Mr. MAscARA. Are you currently looking at that and moving forward with that without legislation or--

Mr. GoBER. I'm not going to wait. Our procedures-you know, we 

can all-I'm going to move fast to take action on that. As a matter 

of fact, we'll start implementing some of these task force recommendations. And then if Congress passes the legislation, I'm 

halfway there anyway because we have to do that. 

We will take action. And I assume that's been done already. It 

will be done. If it hasn't been done, it will be done. 

Mr. MAsCARA. That bothers me. 

Mr. GoBER. Yes, sir. We just--

Mr. MAscARA. For that to continue to exist--

Mr. GoBER. We're not going to do that. It's going to be taken 

away. This report just fot completed this week. And we delivered 

it up here on Tuesday, think it was. We will begin implementing 

the recommendations of the task force. And then, as I say, if Congress passes the legislation, we'll be halfway there anyway. 

But we've got to do that. I agree with you totally. 

Mr. MAsCARA. On Page 4 of the report of the equal employment 

opportunity complaint process review by the task force, the third 

paragraph mentions the len~ of time. And it does some 

benchmarking with other agenCles. 

Are you saying that it takes 380 days instead of-and this is 

what is stated here, the regulatory 180 days to move with a complaint and that government-wide it took 305 days in 1995? Is that 

how long it takes? 

Mr. GoBER. That's my understanding that's the length of time 

that it takes. 

Mr. MAsCARA. Isn't it discouraging to those people who make a 

complaint, then have to wait a year to have it adjudicated or someone to make a ruling on their com:plaint or--

Mr. GoBER. Yes, sir. I think It would be demoralizing, but I ~ould imagine it comes down to dollars and having enough people, 
29 

EEO people, to work the claims. Theyre swamped, just like the 

pe«>ple in our agency. 

We have the same problem with processing claims. We have the 

same problem in a lot of our places. It comes down to having the 

dollars to hire the people. And it makes it very difficult. 

But I agree. It would be great if you could, within 30 days you 

could, wrap up something like that. But these people are very 

much overloaded. 

Mr. MAscARA. I have no further questions. Maybe perhaps I 

agree with Mr. Buyer. Maybe we need to look at the whole process 

and come up with some conclusions and some suggestions that 

make the process move, and move efficiently, rather than have 

these people wait a year. It's awfully discouraging. We're trying to repair the system. You 

know, I look at this as one of the prob1ems here also, in addition 

to the problem with Fayetteville, that across the whole system 

there is a problem of processing these complaints. 

Mr. GoBER. It's not just in our agency either. 

Mr. MAscARA. Oh, across the government agencies. Mr. GoBER. It's all the government. Mr. MAsCARA. I see you used the other agencies, including the 

Air Force and the Treasury and Commerce and Labor and other 

agencies when you did your benchmarking. So the problem is massive. It's massive. 

Mr. GoBER. Yes, sir. Mr. MAscARA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. EvERETl'. I agree the problem is probably government-wide, 

but I also af"ee that this is our little red wagon. And that's the 

one that we re going to pull. And hopefully well do something 

about that. 

Mr. Snyder. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF BON. VIC SNYDER 

Mr. SNYDER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I want to greet you, Mr. Gober. It's always good to see an Arkansan doin, well. I congratulate you on your recent consideration for 

the appomtment. 

Mr. GoBER. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. SNYDER. My recollection from the previous hearing that we 

had back in April was that there were several problems that were 

identified. One we talk about a lot here is that the director of the 

facility investigates the complaints, the charging complaints, even 

if the complaints are made against him. And it appears that we're 

on the path to try to take care of that. 

Another problem that I recall that we discussed was that with 

regard to Mr. Calhoun, there was poor execution of what was then 

current policy. I mean, under your current policies, if they had 

been carried out appropriately, Mr. Calhoun could have been taken 

care of once you were put on notice. My recollection is that you had 

had a new person, probably with not much experience of dealing 

with that level of complaint, that there had been a letter mailed, 

that it kind of had to be modified, and that it was just a screwedup situation, which reflects perhaps more on the quality and back45-229 98 - 2 
30 

ground of the people that are put into these slots to oversee those 

kinds of things anil the training they receive. 

There also was the issue of the remedy, that once there were allegations that were confirmed against Mr. Calhoun, h~;;' still appar- ently felt that you did not have the ability to ~t . fired. And 

we still had to deal with this issue of going to Florida, which my 

recollection is that some of the complaiJiants felt that that was actually what he had wanted, that he had a retirement home down 

there. 

A fourth issue that I recall that came up was that there was an 

overall sense, at least in the Fayetteville VA, that nobody cared. 

that there was kind of this pervasive sense that all of this stuff had 

been 80m, on for a long time and the syatemjust didn't care. 

And, fhially, one very specific issue that came up, to the beet of 

my recollection was that when these complaints are being investigated and a M;. Calhoun or the alleged perpetrator would respond to questions, ~t there afparently was no penalty for giving falso information. Mr. Clyburn think had j)icked up on that, that 

that was something unusual in this kind of business. 

Those are my recollections of what we had talked about before. 

And the two that I want or I guess the three that I want to mention, I mean, rm optimistic that you're fling to take care of this 

issue of the overall sense of the expectation of the agency. I know 

you are very concerned about what you heard at that hearing, too, 

and you have a reputation in Arkansas as being somebodj who 

gets things done. 

As I read through the different proposals, the issue of the remedy 

of how a Mr. Callioun gets fired I guess is the bottom line. A spe- cific question is: Do we foresee that that's going to change under 

your chosen method of dealing with the changes? 

Are we dealing at all or in the legislation are we dealing with 

this issue of some kind of peljury penalty if you lie to the investigators which I don't see anywhere in-- Mr. EvERETT. That's correct. We do not have anything addressing _that issue. 

Mr. SNYDER (continuing). In this legislation. And maybe there 

are reasons why we don'~, but that would seem to be a very big 

concern when we dealt witn our investigators. And then the issue, too, in terms of, which I suspect you're dealing with, you can have the greatest system in the world, but if the 

P.8Ople who are put in there are inadequately trained to deal with 

It, which I think is what happened with Mr. Oalhoun. 

That's a lot of rambling, but those are the things that my recollection is are what we saw come out of the last hearing. Any 

thoughts you might have on any of those areas, I would appreciate 

it. 

Mr. GoBER. Yes. Well, Mr. Snyder, as I said at the first hearing, 

this thing can be Monday morning quarterbacked to death because 

there were lOme mistakes made. 

Mr. SNYDER. I don't want to Monday morning quarterback it, but 

those are the problems that we--

Mr. GoBER. No. rm agreeing with you. 

we 

Mr. 

need 

SNYDER 

to make 

(continuing). 

in statute, 

Saw 

what 

as 

changes 

we look 

you 

ahead 

need 

to what 

to be ~ making 
31 

administratively, and what changes you need to be making in 

terms of personnel changes. 

Mr. GoBER. I think we can handle it administratively. And certainly it would be handled throup the legislation. But we have 

changed. We have learned from this, what happened here. And the 

cases that we look at now are bein2 better investigated. They're 

being put together better, which wilf make it. In case we come to 

the pomt where you have to issue a letter of removal, a notice to 

remove, we'll have the evidence to do so. 

Education is a big thing that we are doing. I know that Dr. Kizer 

has meetings with his VISN directors, the hospital directors. 

They've spent a great deal of time talkin, about this case, Fayette- ville, the lessons learned, which I think IS something they have to 

do. 

New people coming into the system have got to be better orientated to know how to handle these type situations. So there were 

some things that we did there that if we had to go over it again 

would be cfone a lot differentl)". 

I think if there is any good that came out of this-and rd :prefer that we didn't have to learn like this, but if there is any good that 

came out of it, it's the fact that we are co~ a system that 

was flawed and should have been corrected a long time ago. 

Mr. SNYDER. rn just conclude by saying my impression was, 

though, as much as we're trying to write new systems and talking about study commissions that it wouldn't have mattered what 

some of the words in the law would have been. It was going to get screwed up because of how they were carried out. We can have on 

paper the best system in the world if the training isn't there and 

the right ~le carrying them out. 

rm optimistic you'll be the right head person for that. rm glad 

you're in the job you are. Thank you. 

Mr. GoBER. ~n\ou, sir. 

Mr. EvERETT. you, Mr. Snyder. 

Mr. Evans. 

Mr. EvANS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Hershel, you indicated in your testimony that the legislation we 

have introduced would not significantly improve the morale in the 

VA What in your plan would do that? And additionally what can 

we do to help with the professional employees' attitude towards the 

VA EEOC process? 

Mr. GoBER. Well, I think that Mr. Clyburn said it very well earlier and other members of the committee. I think we have to give 

a system that the people believe in. They have to understand that 

it's going to work. 

You know, rm not so sure tha~1 think we can run that internally. And ce~ we could run it externally. But I think that the 

bottom line is ·bility. And I think that's been touched on very 

well here because the people have to understand that I can go file 

a complaint. Nobody IS going to retaliate against me. NobOdy is ~ to cold shoulder me. rm exercising the rights that I have as 

a citizen and as a federal employee. 

And then if they're sure of the fact that rm ~~ to get a serious 

hearing on this-you 'know, many of the comp . ts fired are dealt 

with at the local level. The largest majority of them are solved just 
by getting two people toIether and talking it out. And we're using 

alternative dispute reeofution and things like that to help us get 

beyond that. Of course, something where you have a serious situation like this, you can't do that. 

But I think we have to have a syatem, one of these 1}'8tema, that 

gives the people the 88IUl'8Dce that it does, in fact, work. 

Mr. EvANS. In a private conversation we had, you talked about 

this being a working document or--

Mr. GoBER. Living document. 

Mr. EvANS. Living document. Could you maybe explain that a little bit more in detail? 

Mr. GoBER. Rifht. We did this in 60 days. We did it. We wanted 

to keep the prolD18e that we made to the committee. And it's a good 

document. rm very proud of it. I agree with everything but one 

thing in the report, but I wanted to send you the whole report so 

you could see what my folb did. And then I wanted you to also 

see the part that I disagreed with. 

I didn't have them change their report because I think if you 

make people change their report, you end up getting exactly what 

I would want. So f wanted them to have the :tree thought there to 

do it. 

But I envision this as a document that we put into effect. After 

we work with the committee, we have an implementation team 

that would meet and talk about better ways to do it because we 

might if we talk to the union people, our employees, the committee, 

our public staffers, we would come up with changes that we could 

make just like that, no legislation, no amendment required or anything else. We can just do it. 

And if we go down the road and we see that it's not working a 

month from now, 2 months from now, 3 months after it's implemented, if we see it's not working, we say, "Hold it. That doesn't 

work. Let'. change this and let's change. And let's make it different." 

That's what I meant by "living document," that we could change 

it whenever we saw the need to. 

Mr. EVANS. That's whr I liked Mr. Bilirakis' suggestion that we 

sit down maybe kind of informally and talk about some of these issues in the near future. 

Thank you. Th;!{OU, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. GoBER. I . that's excellent. And I welcome the chance 

to do that. 

Mr. EvANS. Thank you. 

Mr. EvEBETr. Thank you, Mr. Evans. 

Mr. Buyer? Oh, rm sorry. I beg your pardon. Mr. Bilirakis? Excuse me. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

We sit up here, and it'. easy for us to take potshots. There isn't 

any question about it. We're the ivory towerJ

• I guess, whatever the 

word ivory tower. We've used it all of our lives. rm not sure any 

of us ever had looked up what the actual meaning of it is. But 

you're in the field. You're in the trenches, as are your people, your 

staffers and your people, mostly in the medical centers and whatnot. 
33 

A lot of the tb.inp that have been talked about here and words 

like "cooperation," -We'd like to work with you," things of that nature, have been mentioned. One thing that we do know is that, no 

matter how hard we may try, you can't really legislate minds. You 

can't legislate hearts. You certainly can legislate remedies, if you 

will. And I guess that's much of what we're talking about here. 

Mr. Clyburn certainly concentrated on it. That's really what our 

legislation tries to do. This is what you have been working on trying to do. But we also have to try to do everything we can with 

those people out in the field because, even though we can't legislate their minds or hearts, they've got to know that we're pretty serious 

about certain conduct. 

I've got to keep harping. I'm not one of those ~ple who feels 

that more government is better, more legislation 18 better. I think 

my record up here is indicative of that. But because we have been 

burned in the past, because we know that there will be changes 

made at the top as far as the Veterans Administration is concerned, for whatever reasons, God. forbid something happens to 

Hershel Gober, there's a new Secretary, et cetera, et cetera, I per- sonally have great concerns that some of the things that you're trying to put into effe~d I take a look at your comparison of features there. And there aren't that many differences. 

Administrative law judges is different. And I agree with Mr. 

Clyburn. I've worked with administrative law judges. I worked 

with one of the government agents here years ago when I was an 

engineer. They were called examiners at that time. And they were 

hired by the agency. But I tell you they probably found against the 

'j,~~ attorneys and the agency engineers more than for them. So 

I . there is an element, an adequate element, of independence 

there. 

I guess what I'm saying isL you know, facility director, your task 

force recommends removes t&cility director from EEO complaints 

process. Our proposal does the same thing. 

Afpointment of EEO officials, there's a difference there. But I 

don t know why that can't be discussed. 

EEO officer, there's a difference there. But I don't know why that 

can't be discussed. 

EEO counselors, you say primarily full-time counselors emploled 

by DAS, Deputy Assistant Secretary, et cetera. We say full-time 

counselors employed by OEDCR. That certainll is pretty close. 

EEO investigator is exactly the same, full-time mvestigators, except how they're employed. 

Then, of course, we go on down. And the final decision, final 

agency decision, there's a distinction there. 

I look at your review team's preliminary re~. Wonderful. Some 

of the thin~ Mr. Buyer talked about, I don t know why anything 

our legislation does interferes with what is taking place there. 

Mr. Secretary, your opposition to the legislation~ this bill would 

remove the acfrilfuistrative flexibility needed. Ana I believe very strongly in the flexibility. I don't know why we can't sit down with 

the staffs, if you will, and make sure that our legislation is suchand I can't speak for the Chairman. Please forgive me, Mr. Chairman. I'm not--

Mr. EvERETl'. Go right ahead, please. 
84 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. But the point of the matter is I don't know why 

we can't maybe make some changes so that you can retain the administrative flexibility. 

Singling out the VA and its employees as against other government agencies is a concern, but the fact of the matter is apparently, Mr. Clyburn if there are distinctions between what we want 

for the VA and other agencies and other departments, maybe we 

ought to be looking at tlie other agencies and other departments in 

terms of the remedy process. So I'm not sure that that's a good enough reason, although I can understand you don't want to be singled out as against the other greups. 

And then, of course, the edministrative law ju~, the fox ~g the henhouse idea, again, I feel the edmimstrative law 

Judge is adequately independent. 

And then you say, sir, finally and perh~~ most significant, "Most of the changes in the bill can be accomplished by adininistrative reorganization" I discussed previously and you discussed so 

very well today. 

Well, what's the harm? So you're accomplishing it administratively. What is the harm in codifying it so that if these are good 

ideas ~y can be carried forward Secretary through Secretary through Secretary? 

So I guess I'm going right back to all of that, Mr. Secretary. I 

applaud you. Mr. Mascara, others have complimented you. I'd like 

to think that I havel too. You're sincere. I thought Mr. Brown was 

sincere. I may have Dean wrong. 

But, even with all of the sincerity in the world or all of the best 

intentions in the world, what is wrong with codifying some of these 

things so that these remedies will continue on? 

And if changes have to be made, granted, it takes a little harder 

going through the process here, congressional process, and administratively. But that's not really so bad either. I don't know that 

that's enough of a reason to not be willing to sit down, rather than 

just oppose, to not be willinf to sit down and 8ay, "Hey, these are 

some of the things that were doing. We think they ought to be 

codified. But we'd like to have maybe 8uggest some changes in 

some of your wording," that sort of thing. 

I've used up all of my 5 minutes, but if the Chairman would be 

willing, maybe we can get a quick response from you. 

Mr. GoBER. Well, I understand the concern not being codified. 

And I guess if we can sit down-and I think we can. I think we 

have to sit down and work it out together so that we get something 

that we can work with, we can administer for you and make sure 

that we meet the requirements that Congress passe8 because we 

certainly want to do that. It's something that reassures our people. So I _guess, Mr. Bilirakis, I think that we 8hould maybe sit down 

and talk about it. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Okay. You know, you have promised me, Mr. Secretary, and I think your promise is gold. You have promised this 

committee, and I know you really mean it. But, again--

Mr. GoBER. Yes, sir. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS (continuing). We're talking about--

Mr. GoBER. I understand totally. We're going to handle thi8 problem. We've got a lot of very, very important issues that we need 
35 

to deal with nJDnjng the VA system. We're going to. We have to 

solve this issue before we can get on to doing that. Our people have 

got to be able to help do it, and we've got to reassure them. So 

we're going to officiallyMr. BILIRAKIS. So, essentiall~nt~:~ saying to this committee 

that if the Chairman and the r . member and the staffs are 

willing and request that you and your staffs sit down and discuss 

our legislation and maybe som&--

Mr. GoBER. Be dad to, sir. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. ~ou're willing to do that? 

Mr. GoBER. Be glad to do it. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. EvERETT. Thank you very much. And we have requested in 

our opening statement that be done. And I appreciate the gentleman's input on this. 

We're going to have a second round. I've contacted all of the 

members. And, Mr. Buyer, you're up. Mr. BUYER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I only have two things. One, I want to be very candid. And, Dr. 

Kizer, let me say to you that I think you're doing a very good job. 

Let me extend that compliment to you. But also I got tickled last 

fall. I always got tickled last fall and last summer because you 

were out in the field instituting good changes to systems who are 

resistant to change but they've got to get with it. 

And Jesse Brown had fun. Whenever he would come under attack by a local facility about changes for which he had instituted, 

"Well, it's the Republicans that were doing it to you." I got kind 

of tickled by that. 

Let me just say, politics aside, that's the games that were played. 

You keep your head down and keep doing the right thing. I extend 

the compliment to you. What you're doing out there in the field in 

delivering health services to the veterans is very good. So I want 

to take that opportunity to compliment you. 

Dr. KIzER. Thank you. . Mr. BUYER. The other is, Mr. Gober, I went back to the parking 

lot issues identified over here. You're on a hot seat today. I didn't 

mean to put you on that hot seat, but you've stepped forward to 

the plate. And I compliment you for being here. That's why I'm so 

upset that Jesse Brown didn't come. I compliment you for being 

here and stepping up to the plate. 

Some of the things in these parking lot issues, they said too often 

the ball had been dropped between the initial indicators of a problem and senior management efforts to deal with it. There are some 

very candid remarks. 

The other, they talked about disciplinary action for offenders. 

They talked about the old boy s~stem, not being able or willing to 

discipline senior management officials. They also said that moving 

disciplinary problems and parking them somewhere, rather than 

actively deal with them; on culture, we need a change in our culture. Those are strong words. That's very candid for a task force 

to come back and report such things. 

I'm back to my analogies again. In a meeting with high-level 

Army officials, I said, "You know, you just can't go out there and 
86 

discipline those of whom perpetrated, the perpetrators at Aberdeen. 

We've also got a chain of command." 

You've got commanders who :et:rmitted such an environment to 

exist. Commanders are responsible for what they know and perhaps what they should have known also. They've got to get out and 

look under the rocks. They've got to be around. They've got to be 

visible. 

Not long ago some of the chain of command had been relieved administratively. I'm here concerned. You know, we can jump on Mr. 

Calhoun. But you know what I'm concerned about? I'm concerned 

that there was such a chain of command in the disciplinary function that permitted such decisions to have been made. 

So my question is to you: What review or actions will you be taking to examine how those decision-making procesaea were done or 

permitted or are you doing anything about that chain of command 

that made such a decision that we all find so horrible? 

Mr. GoBER. Mistakes were made. And I think honest mistakes 

were made, too, and lack of knowledge, lack of communication, not 

talking to people, saying, "Hey, what do I do in this area? How do 

I handle this? 

Everything is not over yet regarding this case, but I am concerned more about how we handle cases in the future. I feel very 

comfortable that we have a process in place that will preclude this 

type of instance from happening again, the fact that we get involved in it very early on, it is reviewed within the Office of the 

Secretary to make sure and the right lawyers are involved to make 

sure that we have conducted the investigation and everything in 

the rifht way. So guess, Mr. Buyer, I don't have any plans to go out and cut 

off a bunch of heads. I would say that because of this. I would 

think that we have had many discussions among ourselves because 

the ultimate responsibility, of course, now is mine. And I don't 

shirk from that responsibility. But I think I'm more interested in 

what happens in the future than what happened in the past. 

I have already admitted that we made mistakes. And I think 

that now I have to concentrate on making sure that we don't make 

those same mistakes again. Mr. BUYER. All right. You're right. The past sets the foundation 

for corrective action 80 it's not repeated in the future. It takes me 

back to my independent commission discussion. 

Thank you. 

Mr. EVERETT. Thank you, Mr. Buyer. Mr. GoBER. Mr. Chairman, ifl may? 

Mr. EVERETT. Certainly. 

Mr. GoBER. One thing. Mr. Buyer asked the question earlier. I'd 

like to ask Ms. McIOem. The 36 percent question, I'd like to have 

her explain it to you, sir, if you don't mind. 

Ms. McKLEM. Thank you. 

When you're looking at the sexual harassment survey results, the 

comment that you made about 36 ~rcent of the employees identified a "most serious incident," I think that has to be put into perspective. All of the survey respondents, which was over 20,000 pe0-

ple of the 30,000 who were surveyed, were asked to identify if one 
37 

of a list of 30 incidents had happened to them. They were then 

asked to describe the most serious incident. 

Of the 35 people who responded yes to one of those types of incidents, approximately half of them said that they did not consider 

that behavior to be sexual harassment. There's room for debate on 

that, whether it's appropriate or not, but that was the respondents' 

description of the incidents that happened to them. 

When asked to describe the most serious incident, the largest 

majority of those were things like comments, touching of a shoulder, those kinds of experiences. 

It doesn't mean that we're not looking seriously at all of the comments and all of the behaviors and that we will not be addressing 

those in terms of training, but in terms of describin, a most serious 

incident, I think that that has to be put in perspective. And it's not, 

in fact, a serious kind of sexual harassment that occurred. It 

doesn't mean that we don't take it seriously. 

Mr. EvERE1T. I would at this time order the report of the equal 

employment opportunity complaint process review task force be 

made a Fart of the record; in addition to that, that the preliminary re~rt 0 Ms. Gibson be made a part of the record. 

[The equal employment opportunity complaint process review 

task force appears on p. 99.] 

[The human resources report appears on p. 58.] 

Mr. EVERE1T. Mr. Secretary, there's a tone here which I hope 

that you've picked up on. You're not dealing with simply this issue 

of sexual harassment. We're dealing here I think it's become apparent with a couple of other issues. 

You're dealing with an issue of broken trust. You're dealing with 

an issue of a word that we used a lot around here, but I'm not real 

sure that in the rank and file of the VA administration that it is 

quite understood. And that's one of a culture that exists. 

This Chairman has personally ~rienced what he feels to be an 

obstruction put in his way by a director. We can't have that. We 

have constitutional duties. We're going to pursue those constitutional duties. 

I don't know what has to happen, but if I were in your shoesI'm not, thank goodness-if I were, I would recognize that there is 

an issue of broken trust here. And there is a larger issue or at least 

the same magnitude of we really believe that there is a culture 

within the VA that defies overshoot by this committee and perhaps 

by this Congress and that some of them even think it is laughable. 

Now, it doesn't matter to me. I'm positive if Mr. Clyburn was sitting in this chair or I'm sitting in this chair, that would be this 

feeling of this committee and that this is going to be pursued on 

a very bipartisan basis. I think you've seen here today that the 

comments have been very bipartisan. We're interested in the same 

thing you're interested in, and that is what's best for the veteran. 

And, to be very honest with you, you have a challenge in front 

of you. I see a great gap between the trust of this committee an.d 

between the VA I get increasing reports of the culture that I'm 

speaking of that defies and I think in some cases resents oversight 

by the Congress. And I would ask you to take that into consideration. This is something that we need desperately to work closely 
38 

in the coming years with the VA to pursue the best interests of our 

veterans. 

And on today's hearing, I certainly appreciate your willingness to 

report back. to this subcommittee every 60 days, as stated in your 

written testimony. And I would ask that we be notified sooner if ~~ficant events relating to Fayetteville arise. 

you today for your testimony. Mr. GoBER. Thank you, sir. 

If I may, in cl08inJ" I want to assure you that I have a great respect for the Constitution of this country. And we want to not 

widen the gap. I want it to be closer. I want us to work together 

because I think we can only be successful in doing our job if we 

don't play games with each other, play"Gotcha," as you and I discussed the Other day. I think we have to understand what our real job is, and our job 

is to make sure we take care of veterans. Your job is to watch us 

and make sure we do that. I fully respect that, and I pledge to you 

that we will no ~w farther apart. We will work closer ~er. 

It's easier to do It that way. Arid, besides that, it's the right thing 

to do. 

Mr. EvERETr. I appreciate those comments, and I will echo the 

comments of Mr. Buyer. We n:Nl don't want to have to micromanage, but if it comes to that, it . come to that. 

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Mr. GoBER. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. EvERE'l'T. We now have one more panel: Mr. Bill Merriman. 

He's Deputy Inspector General. We would ask him to step up to the 

table, please. Mr. Merriman, thank you very much. Will you introduce members of your panel and then proceed with your teetimonYl please? 

We'll ask you to hold your testimonJ' to within 5 minutes 01·--

Mr. MEiwMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. EvERE'l'T (continuing). Oral testimony. And your complete 

testimony will be made a part of the record. 

Mr. MERRIMAN. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM T. MERRIMAN, DEPUTY INSPECTOR 

GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; ACCOMPANIED BY: MS. MAUREEN REGAN, COUNSEL FOR INSPECTOR GENERAL; AND MS. JUDY SHELLY, SENIOR ANALYST, 

SPECIAL INQUIRIES DMSION 

Mr. MERRIMAN. On my right, I have Ms. Maureen Regan, counsel 

for the Inspector Generali on my left, Ms. Judy Shelly, who is a 

senior analyst in our Speclal Inquiries Division. 

Mr. Chairman, during the hearing before this committee in April, 

the Department of Veterans Affairs made a commitment to investigate outstanding and new allegations of improj)riety by Jerome 

Calhoun the former Director of the VA Medic81. Center in Fayetteville, NC. In flJJfi~ that promise, the Department asked for assistance from the ce of the Inspector General on two specific issues. This assistance was providea. 

The first issue was whether there were any sexual harassment 

complaints against Mr. Calhoun during his tenure as the Associate 

direCtor at the VA Medical Center in Buffalo, New York or during 
39 

the time he was Acting Director at the VA Medical Center in Batavia, New York. These were Mr. Calhoun's assignments prior to his 

appointment as Director in Fayetteville. 

To review the allegation, two senior members of my staff conducted a site visit at these VA medical centers. At our request 

prior to the site visit, the director of the medical centers notifi;i 

the employ:ees of the visit by distributing a letter to the medical 

center staff at both facilities and by announcing the visit on e-mail. 

Employees were invited to meet with or otherwise contact the IG 

team if they wanted to discuss their experiences with Mr. Calhoun. 

More than 20 employees were interviewed by my staff during the 

review. No current or former female employees came forward with 

an allegation that they were sexually harassed by Mr. Calhoun. 

The employees interviewed included a number of employees who 

were involved in and familiar with the EEOprograms during the 

time Mr. Calhoun was employed at the two New York VA medical 

centers. No one had any recollection of a formal or informal complaint of sexual harassment against Mr. Calhoun. We reviewed the 

EEO files for both facilities and found no documentation of a formal complaint of sexual harassment against Mr. Calhoun. Because 

centralized records of informal complaints are not routinely maintained, we were unable to review records relating to informal complaints filed during the relevant time period. 

Based on our review, we concluded that there was no evidence 

that the complaints of sexual harassment were filed ~ainst Mr. 

Calhoun while he was Associate Director of the VA Medfcal Center 

in Buffalo or the Acting Director of the VA Medical Center in 

Batavia. 

During the review, current and former employees did bring issues to our attention that were unrelated to the issue of sexual 

harassment. Because the issues were similar to and within the 

scope of the review being conducted by the Department at the VA 

Medical Center in Fayetteville, we forwarded the information to 

the Department for follow-up and action if deemed appropriate. If 

the Department needs assistance in following up on these or any 

other issues, the Office of the Inspector General will provide the 

necessary assistance. 

With respect to the second issue referred to us by the Department, we are in the process of obtaining, reviewing, and analyzing records and other relevant information. We expect to refer the results of our investigation to the Department in the near future for 

whatever action the Department deems appropriate. Because the 

review is ongoing and the information is maintained in a Privacy 

Act system of records, I do not believe it would be app~~ate to 

provide further detail on this issue in a public forum at . time. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to provide you 

with an update on our work conducted by the Office of Inspector 

General smce April relating to the Department's commitment to 

follow up on allegations of impropriety by the former Director of 

the VA Medical Center in FayetteVille, NC. 

rd be happy to address any ~uestions you might have. 

[The prep8red statement of Mr. Merriman appears on p. 87.] 

Mr. EvERE'rl'. Let me recognize our ranking member now for any questions that he may have. 
40 

Mr. CLYBURN. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. 

There's something said there that raises a question in my mind. 

And if it's a problem, then okay. You indicated that something 

turned up in your visits to these two New York facilities that was 

related ~it seemed to be saying something was related to management procedures or management, managerial. habits of Mr. Calhoun, but it was outside the scope of sexual harassment but inside 

the scope of your review. 

Mr. MBRlmIAN. The first thing we wanted to pin down was: Had 

a sexual harassment complaint been filed? 

Mr. CLYBURN. Right. Mr. MERRIMAN. Okay. So we found out that wasn't the case. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Right. 

Mr. MBRlmIAN. We did talk to employees. No one came to us and 

indicated that there was any further sexual harassment while be 

was up there, that happened to them or that they witnessed. 

Some people complaiDed about behavior up there similar to some 

of the complaints at Fayetteville. And we referred that to the committee. I don't want to ~ 

Mr. CLYBURN. You referred that to? 

Mr. MBRlmIAN. To the Department's investigative group that 

was looking at those types of complaints. Mr. CLYBURN. Were you present when we had that hearing? 

What was it, in March? 

Mr. MBRlmIAN.1 testified, sir. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Or April? Mr. MERRIMAN. April. Mr. CLYBURN. April. Were you here? 

Mr. MBRlmIAN.I testified. Yes, sir. 

Mr. CLYBURN. You testified. You may recall some issues raised 

by the ladies who testified. I was a little bit careful because I didn't 

want them to misunderstand because a couple of the allegations, 

especially the lady who testified who followed Mr. Calhoun from 

the New York facility to Fayetteville, I kind of warned her that the 

issues she raised were not sexual harassment issues as I understood the law but that had a lot to do with management style and 

whether or not he was a good manager. 

Am I to understand that you are pursuing management style or 

whether or not he is a good manager as a part of what you are 

looking to? 

Mr. MERRIMAN. That's correct, in conjunction with the Department. Wherever there was an allegation of poor management or inappropriate behavior, we identified that. We're working with Ms. 

Gibson. And it will all come together. 

Mr. CLYBURN. V;biJood. Thank you. Mr. EvERETT. I my ranking member. 

Mr. Merriman, thank you for your testimony. You have informed 

us the status of your activity, which is what the subcommittee 

asked you to do. Because your investigation is ongoing and you 

have indicated you will report your results in the near future, I 

have no questions for the public record. We want to be careful not 

to compromise your work. Please provide the subcommittee a copy 

of your report when it is issued. 
41 

The panel is dismissed. Todays hearing as a follow-up to keep 

the focus on the V A:s efforts to address specific problems at Fayetteville VA~h, I'm sorry. 

I'm sorry. Forgive me. Go ahead, an}' questions you may have. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. I really don't, Mr. Chamnan. 

I guess I have a curiosity. You testified in April. So you heard 

the other testimony. You heard the testimony frOm the ladies who 

had the problems. And you've sat through what went on here 

today. 

I'm not going to ask you at this point, but we've prepared this 

legislation. It's the Chairman's legislation. Some of us have cosponsored it. We've shown an interest in the past. I don't know that 

that legislation actua1lygoes into the IG ana your function. 

I guess again, with all due respect to the Chairman, at least on 

my part, I would invite you, on benalf of the overall committee anyhow, to make any suggestions in terms of the role or maybe a better role or whatever, the role that the IG may play in all of this. 

I know when I was in the military,-and that was many years ~it was the IG. I mean, my gosh, back in the old military, you 

were concerned aLout chain of command and honor. If you had a 

complaint, you almost didn't go through the chain of command. I 

mean, you reached out, looked to try to find the Inspector General. 

And, unfortunately, not too many of the lower-level troops were 

even aware of an Inspector General being available. 

So the role, as I see it, the role that the IG would play in all of 

these matters, sexual harassment, if you will, in the military and 

ingovemment, is maybe a bigger one than some people would see 

your role being. I don't know whether you have any comments on 

that. 

Mr. MERRIMAN. We'd be happy to look at thj,::fslation from the 

standpoint of how it might impact the IG. It' the Acting Secretary has indicated that he would be willing to publicize things 

like the IG hotline, if people didn't feel comortable with going 

through the EEO process, that they could come to us. 

The only caution I would have is to not duplicate processes. I'd 

like to see an EEO process that works and works well and that 

people can inject themselves into that process so that we as the IG 

woUldn't have to look into individual EEO complaints, that they 

would be handled by a well-established process that everybodl 

agrees is working well. That would be my concern, that we don t 

duplicate what everybody else has put in place. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Thanks. 

Mr. EvERETT. Yes? 

Mr. MERRIMAN. Go ahead. 

Ms. REGAN. I think one of the concerns we would have is if peo- ple would come to the IG, they might lose their due process rights 

that they would have in the EEO system, which has some significant time limitations. So unless there was legislation that would 

address that issue. 

That's one of the reasons we're reluctant to get into EEO complaints or other complaints that have time restrictions on them. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Oltay. I see. And there are others. Certainly Mr. 

Clyburn is maybe the leader in that regard, who understands that 

process better than I. But I do know that based on personal experi-
42 

enea the IG process is also a very significant ODe. And I juat really 

wasn't sure what more we could do or should do in that Ngard. 

Well, again~s in your bands. You have an invitation for an 

input if you'd' to dO so. 

Mr. MERRIMAN.J appreciate that, sir. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. CLYBURN.If~~t, Mr. Chairman? 

Mr. EvERETT. Ce . y. Go ahead. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Let me ask, if I may. As I understand the process, if an employee were to file a complaint totally in the time, at any point in that system, the employee could ask that that complaint 

go to a different level, to another avenue without losing his or her 

due ~rocess rights. I mean, the time would have been tolled from 

the time the complaint was filed. 

Mr. MERRIMAN. I think Ms. Regan was talkillJ. about coming to 

us, instead of getting into the system, and making certain milestones that were implicit in the system. In other worii&--

Mr. CLYBURN. I don't think any of ~ here envision a process that 

would have the employeet~~ directly from the incident to the inspector General. I don't . that's what Mr. Bilirakis is talkjng 

about at all. 

We're talking about when the incident occurs and the complaint is made. Whatever the first step in that complaint may be, the 

times are tolled unless you've got something different from any 

process I'm familiar with. And tlien if the employee is not satisfied 

that his or her supervisor or whoever may be supervising the person the allegation is made against and decided to go from that 

point to the Inspector General, that person will not lose any due 

process rights because the time tolled or the time the complaint 

was filed, not when the time he or she may have asked to come 

to you, but from the day the complaint was filed. 

Ms. REGAN. After somebody came to us--

Mr. CLYBURN. I mean, the clock stops rnnnjng. Let's just have-- _ Ms. REGAN. If it's a situation where the clock would stop running, they still have some time constraints when they go through 

the informal process. When that ends, we get into the formal process. 

And I'm not sure where you would envision we would come in, 

but I think what Mr. Merriman was saying earlier, if they're in the 

EEO process, there is a process there for an investigation to be conducted. And we wouldn't want to du~licate those efforts. Now, if it 

could be an either/or, maybe there s legislation that would take 

care of that. 

But at this point in time, we've never been asked when somebody 

has been in the process to come in and conduct an investigation. 

It has always been when people come to us who haven't gotten into 

the process yet. And that's more what we were talkjng about 

earlier. 

Mr. CLYBURN. Okay. Well, we understand, but what we're talking aLout here is trying to find some independent arbiter in this 

process before it ~oes -into the court system. 

We have histoncally in this country, especially with these issues, 

tried to provide edmjnjstrative remedies to people. We don't want 
43 

to clog up the court systems. I mean, we can't even get federal 

judges appointed right now. So we don't want anything going to 

court. We want there to be administrative remedies. We want there 

to be an independent investigation. What we are asking for is for a system to be put in place that 

will provide an administrative remedy independent from the ageney or the facility. That's what we're asking for. 

Now, you've got something there that you're dealing with that 

came to you because the ac:fministrative procedure did not work. 

And that's all we're talking about here. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. I'm sorry. I didn't catch the introductions. But you 

made the comment that you were talking about where they come 

to you, in effect, in lieu of going through the administrative 

process. 

Ms. REGAN. Correct. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. All right. Why don't we just very briefly explore 

that? When that h~ppens, give us the scenario. 

Mr. MERRIMAN. They would come to us? 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Yes. They come to you, yes. For some reason, they 

don't go through the-they don't have any confidence in the process. God knows we can understand why they wouldn't because of 

some of the testimony we've heard over the years. 

But when they come to you, what happens? I mean, what--

Mr. MERRIMAN. Well, it's not been very frequent, to start with. 

But if they came to us, the first thing we would want to know is 

why they're not in the process. 

Our preference would be to get them in there because they have 

greater relief than they can get from us. I believe there are financial inducements that can come from that approach. 

But if there was a problem, such as Fayetteville, where they did 

not make a complaint, they had no confidence in the director, that's 

where we would get interested. We would probably be the only ones 

as opposed to going to court, to get some remedy for the individual. 

Our concem would be that a remedy can be provided to them. 

We would encourage them to use the process if they had confidence 

in it. Otherwise, then we'd have to get involved. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. I know, but when you get--

Mr. CLYBURN. Believe it or not, there are a lot of employees 

today who may not know about the EEO process within the system. 

It always surprises me to know the number of people who just don't know. And they'll go downtown to a local attomey. 

Any attomey worth his or her salt, the moment that person 

walks in the door will pick up the phone and make sure that the 

person filed the complaint with the proper administrative ageney. And it would seem to me that if someone were to come to the 

Inspector General's Office, your first order of business, as you said, 

was to make sure that that person filed the complaint properly in 

the administrative process, even if you are going to suspend whatever you will do until it works its way back. 

So I think that it shouldn't be an either/or here. I think. you can 

do either one or both at the same time. Even administratively the 

EEOC process, anybody that files a complaint at the state agency under the current system, that complaint is automatically dually 
'" filed by law with the federal agencies. So the person will not lose 

any_ federal rights. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. So if they go to the IG in lieu of, you're saying it's automatically considered--

Mr. CLYBURN. If we can have dual legislation, just as we have 

done with the federal bureaucracy, that complaint will be considered dually filed in the system. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. So your power or your influence would be to try 

to take care of that complaint on an immediate kind of a basis? 

What would you do? Would you go to the person against whom the 

complaint is made and basically try to solve it right then and 

there? 

Mr. MERRIMAN. No. If they came to us, first of all, once again, 

we'd want to know why they weren't getting into the system. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Yes. No, I appreciate that, sir. But, I mean, where 

in the rare cases when-actu8lly, I may be taking too much time 

on this. I don't know. But in the rare cases-88 you indicated, it's 

a rare case-where, in fact, they stay with you, although it's dually 

filed, what do you do? Do you then make an immediate contact 

against the person being complained against and use your influence to accomplish something there? 

Mr. MERRIMAN. We try and understand the facts first. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. All right. 

Ms. REGAN. If, in fact, somebody has already filed an EEO complaint and they are in that pr0ceB8, very frequently we won't do 

anything because the process provides for them an investigation 

byMr. BILIRAKIS. A remedy, right. 

Ms. REGAN (continuing). An investigator. 'And that would get 

them through the system and give them their rights to the EEOC 

as well as their rights to the federal court. 

Now, we may get a case-in fact, I guess some of the women who 

testified here back in April were ones who hadn't filed a complaint. 

It was against the semor manager. In that case, we will conduct 

an investigation and report our findings to the Department, as we 

would under the IG Act. 

So we would have no authority to take any action or give them 

any remedy. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. So you would report that to the Department? 

Ms. REGAN. Right, which is what we did in this particular case. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. But the Defartment was in this case the head of 

the-who? "The Department being who, the Secretary of the Veterans Affairs? 

Ms. REGAN. I believe in this case we reported to the VISN Director. 

Mr. MERRIMAN. The VISN Director. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. The Assistant Director. 

Mr. MERRIMAN. The VISN Director. 

Ms. REGAN. Dr. Gross. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. I see. Ms. REGAN. And that's the process that's set in place under the 

IG Act. So we have no authority to order any kind of remedy for 

either party, either against the person or for the person. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. All right. Thank you. 
45 

Mr. EvERETT. Again, I apologize for my friend from Florida and 

do appreciate his continuing interest because oftentimes Mr. 

Clyburn and I look around at this time of the day and there's nobody here but us. 

As I was saying, today's hearing was intended as a follow-up to 

keep the focus on VA's efforts to address specific_problems at Fayetteville VA Medical Center and the need for VA to change its 

management culture Department-wide. It was also clearly put on 

the table the issue of how to make the changes in the VA's EEO 

system. 

Now that the VA appears to accept and ~rhaps even embrace 

the need for change in the way it deals Wlth sexual harassment 

and other discrimination cases, this is a work in progress. And this 

subcommittee is committed to see it finished for the sake of the VA 

employees and the people they so ably serve: our Nation's veterans. 

I mentioned earlier that I think. there's a wide g_ap of broken 

trust between the VA and this committee. We've talked over and 

over about culture that exists. We're beginning to experience that 

culture more and more. The culture is there, is an mcorrect culture, is a culture that this committee is not going to tolerate. And 

I've had some very frank discussion with the Secretary about that. 

I do appreciate your report and the effort that you folks have put 

into it and in doing what we have asked. ~ou to do. I will say that 

this panel is dismissed. And members will have 5 legislative days 

to submit questions to the record for the hearing witnesses. 

The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:58 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

APPENDIX 

I 

105TH CONGRESS H R 1703 1ST SESSION •• 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for improved and expedited 

procedures for resolving complaints of unlawful employment discrimination arising within the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAy 22,1997 

Mr. EVERETT (for himself, Mr. EVANS, Mr. STUMP, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. BILlRAKlS, and Mr. BUYER) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for improved and expedited procedures for resolving complaints 

of unlawful employment discrimination arising within the 

Department of Veterans Affairs. 

1 Be it enacted by the. Senate and HoUse of Representa2 tives of tM United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the "Department of Veter5 ans Affairs Employment Discrimination Prevention Act". 

(47) 
2 

1 SEC. I. DBPARTIIBNT 01' VBTBRAN8 Al'l'AIRS EMPLOy· 

2 MBNT DISCRDDNATION RBSOLtJTION PROCB3 DURB& 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.-Title 38, United States Code, is 

5 amended by inserting after chapter 7 the following new 

6 chapter: 

7 

8 

"See. 

"CHAPTER 8-EMPLOYMENT 

DISCRIMINATION 

"801. Scope of chapter. 

"802. 0trIee of Employment Diacrirnination Complaints Resolution. 

"803. InfonnaJ complaint ~tion. 

"804. Investigation of complaints. 

"805. Final agency decision; hearings. 

"806. Review of final agency decisions. 

"807. Unlawful employment discrimination defined. 

9 "I SOl. Scope of chapter 

10 "(a) The procedures established in this chapter shall 

11 be implemented in a manner consistent with procedures 

12 applicable under regulations prescribed by the Equal Em· 

13 ployment Opportunity Commission. 

14 "(b) In the case of an employee of the Department 

15 who alleges that the employee has been subjected to un· 

16 lawful employment discrimination (as defined in section 

17 807 of this title), the allegation shall be considered under 

18 the procedures applicable to the Merit Systems Protection 

19 Board under title 5 (rather than under the procedures set 

20 forth in this chapter) if the action (or failure to act) of 

21 which the employee complains is an employment action or 

-RR 1'7011 m 
49 

3 

1 practice that is otherwise appealable to the Merit Systems 

2 Protection Board. 

3 "(c) Nothing in this chapter supersedes4 "(1) the rights and remedies available to emS . ployees under title vn of the Civil Rights Act of 

6 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.), including the rights 

7 and remedies provided in section 1977A of the Re8 vised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1981a); or 

9 "(2) any right or obligation of an employee to 

10 elect (in lieu of procedures under this chapter) to 

11 raise an allegation of unlawful employment discrimi12 nation under grievance procedures established under 

13 a collective bargaining agreement. 

14 "18QI. otftce 01 Empi07lllent DI8crimlDatiOD Co.-

IS plaint. Be801UtlOD 

16 "(a)(l) There is in the Department an Office of Em17 ployment Discrimination Complaints Resolution (herein18 after in this chapter referred to as the 'Office'), which 

19 shall be headed by a Director. The Director shall report 

20 only to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary. 

21 "(2) Subject to the direction of the Secretary, the Di22 rector shall have sole responsibility within the Department 

23 for administering the procedures under this chapter for 

24 resolving complaints of unlawful employment discrimina2S tion arising within the Department . 

.... 1_1& 
50 

4 

1 "(3) In addition to the functions of the Director 

2 under paragraph (2), the Director shall perfonn such 

3 other functions as the SeCretary may prescribe consistent 

4 with the functions of the Director under paragraph (2). 

5 "(b) The Secretary shall employ within the Office ad6 ministrative law judges appointed in accordance with sec7 tion 3105 of title 5 for the purposes of this chapter and 

8 such other personnel as the Office may require. In ap9 pointing administrative law judges, the Secretary should 

10 consider the composition of the persons appointed, taken 

11 as a group, in tenns of race, sex, and veterans status, 

12 compared with the composition of the total Department 

13 workforce in terms of race, sex, and veterans status. 

14 "(c) The Secretary shall ,ensure that the Director is 

15 furnished sufficient resources to enable the Director to 

16 carry out the functions of the Office under this chapter 

17 in a timely manner. 

18 "(d) The Secretary shall include in the documents 

19 submitted to Congress by the Secretary in support of the 

20 President's budget for each fiscal ye8J'-

21 "(1) detailed infonnation on the budget for the 

22 Office; 

23 "(2) the Secretary's opinion as to whether the 

24 resources (including the number of employees) pro25 posed in the budget for that fiscal year are adequate 

.RR 1'703 m 
51 

5 

1 to enable the Secretary to comply with statutory and 

2 regulatory deadlines for the administration of the 

3 procedures under this chapter and other provisions 

4 of law relating to the resolution of complaints of unS lawful employment discrimination involving the De6 partment; and 

7 "(3) a report on the activities of the Office dur8 ing the preceding fiscal year, including (A) a state9 ment of the number and nature of complaints of un10 lawful employment discrimination received and the 

11 number and nature of complaints resolved, and the 

12 results of any appellate ..mew, during the year, (B) 

13 a description of the timeliness of the resolution of 

14 complaints during the year, and (C) a statement of 

IS significant decisions and trends affecting the work of 

16 the Office. 

17 "(e)(l) The Director shall prescribe18 "(A) standards of timeliness for the expeditious 

19 resolution of complaints of unlawful employment dis20 crimination under this chapter; 

21 "(B) the qualifications and training require22 ments for employees of the Office; 

23 "(C) requirements for record-keeping pertaining 

24 to counseling an.d investigations by employees of the 

2S Office; and 
52 

6 

1 "(D) standards for the conduct of investigations 

2 under section 804 of this title. 

3 "(2) Regulations under paragraph (1) shall be con4 sistent with regulations prescribed by the Equal EmployS ment Opportunity Commission, except that, in the interest 

6 of the expeditious resolution of complaints, the Director 

7 may prescribe shorter time periods with respect to any 

8 deadline or administrative period that is applicable only 

9 to the time within which the Government may (or is re10 quired to) act. 

11 "0808. Informal complaint reeolution 

12 "Employees of the Office shall counsel employees of 

13 the Department, and applicants for employment with the 

14 Department, who allege that they have been subject to un15 lawful employment discrimination by an officer or em16 ployee of the Department. The Office shall seek to resolve 

17 such complaints in an expeditious and impartial manner 

18 through informal investigation and conciliation using pro19 cedures prescribed by the Director .. 

20 "0804. Investigation 01 complaint. 

21 "(a) If a complaint of unlawful employment discrimi22 nation is filed with the Department and the complaint is 

23 not resolved through the informal resolution process under 

24 ~ion 803 of this title, the Director shall assign the com-

.... 1.,.18 
53 

7 

1 plaint to an administrative law judge, who shall detennine 

2 whether the complaint shall be accepted for investigation. 

3 "(b)(l) The administrative law judge assigned to a 

4 complaint shall make such detennination in accordance 

5 with regulations of the Equal Employment Opportunity 

6 Commission, except that if the administrative law judge 

7 detennines that the complaint is without merit, the admin8 istrative law judge may detennine that the complaint is 

9 not to be accepted for investigation. 

10 "(2) A decision that a complaint is not to be accepted 

11 for investigation is a final agency decision of the matter. 

12 "(c)(l) If the administrative law judge determines 

13 that the complaint is to be accepted, the Director shall 

14 promptly provide for an investigation of the complaint, 

15 which shall be carried out by employees of the Office (or 

16 by contract personnel acquired by the Director). The em17 ployee (or contractor) conducting the investigation shall 

18 submit to the Director a complete written t:eport of the 

19 results of the investigation. 

20 "(2) If a portion of a complaint is accepted for inves21 tigation and a portion is not accepted, the individual filing 

22 the complaint or the Department may request the admin23 istrative law judge to direct the suspension of the inves24 tigation of the portion of the complaint accepted for inveseIIIt 17G1 m 
8 

1 tigation pending the results of any review of the decision 

2 not to accept the other portion. 

3 "(3) The Director shall furnish a copy of the inves4 tigative report (including a copy of the investigative file) 

5 to the administrative law judge, the individual who filed 

6 the complaint, and the Secretary. The administrative law 

7 judge may direct that an additional investigation be made 

8 if the administrative law judge determines that an addi9 tional investigation is warranted. 

10 "180&. Final agency decisioD; hearinp 

11 "(a) The final agency decision on a complaint of un12 lawful employment discrimination, in a case not resolved 

13 through informal procedures under section 803 of this 

14 title, shall be made by an administrative law judge. 

15 "(b) The individual filing the complaint may request 

16 a hearing on the matter. Any such request shall be made 

17 in such time and manner as may be prescribed by the Di18 rector. The administrative law judge shall grant a request 

19 for a hearing unless, after giving appropriate notice and 

20 allowing an opportunity to respond to such notice, the ad21 ministrative law judge determines that there is no genuine 

22 dispute as to a material fact. 

23 "(c) If the administrative law judge grants a request 

24 of the individual filing the complaint for a hearing, the 

25 administrative law ju~ 

eBB l'ft11m 
9 

1 "(1) may conduct the hearing on the matter; or 

2 "(2) may refer the matter for a hearing by a 

3 hearing examiner . 

• 4 "(d) In any hearing under this section, the adminis5 trative law judge or hearing examiner presiding at the 

6 hearing shall have the authorities set forth in section 

7 556(c) of title 5. 

8 "1806. Review 01 ftnal agency decisions 

9 "(a) If the final agency decision in a case complaining 

10 of unlawful employment discrimination by an officer or 

11 employee of the Department is adverse to the individual 

12 filing the complaint, the individual may appeal the deci13 'sion to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 

14 or may institute an action on the case in the appropriate 

15 United States district court, as provided by law. 

16 "(b) If the final agency decision in such a case is 

17 adverse to the Department, the Secretary may appeal the 

18 decision to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commis19 sion. Any such appeal shall be made within 30 days after 

20 the date of the receipt by the Secretary of the decision. 

21 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may act 

22 on such an appeal in the same manner as in the case of 

23 an appeal by an individual against a final agency decision . 

• aa 170118 
66 

10 

1 "1807. UDlawful employment diecrimiD,atiOD deftned 

2 "For purposes of this chapter, the tenn 'unlawful em3 ployment discrimination' means any action, or failure to 

4 act, that is a violation of any of the following: 

5 "(1) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

6 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.). 

7 "(2) The Age Discrimination in Employment 

8 Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.). 

9 "(3) Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act 

10 of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206). 

11 "(4) Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 

12 1973 (29 U.S.C. 791).". 

13 (b) CLERICAL A.MENDMENT.-The tables of chapters 

14 at the beginning of title 38, United States Code, and at 

15 the beginning of part I of such title, are amended by in16 serting after the item relating to chapter 7 the following 

17 new item: 

"8. Employment m.crimiDatiOD .................................................. SOl". 

18 SEC. 3. TRANsmON. 

19 Chapter 8 of title 38, United States Code, as added 

20 by section 2, shall apply with respect to complaints of un21 lawful employment discrimination that are filed after the 

22 end of the six-month period beginning on the date of the 

23' enactment of this Act. Any complaint filed before the end 

24 of such period shall be resolved in accordance with the 
6'1 

11 

1 procedures in effect on the date of the enaetment of this 

2 Act. 

o 

eBB 1.,.18 
58 

Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 

Fayetteville, North Carolina 

Review Team's Preliminary Report 

On May 16, 1997, the Deputy Secretary commissioned a Review Team 

comprised of highly qualified human resources (HR), equal employment 

opportunity (EEO), attorneys, and management officials from various 

organizations within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The Deputy 

Secretary charged the Review Team with conducting a follow up review of 

management actions at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 

(VAMC), Fayetteville, North Carolina. 

The Review T .. m focused Its ,.vIew on the following"'''''''''' of wott: 

• To report on the progress of all pending complaints and claima; 

• To pursue other claims and complaints not filed under EEO or other pertinent 

procedures, e.g., Inspector General, Special Counsel, or grievance 

procedures; and, 

• To determine whether employees were reassigned, transferred, demoted or 

otherwise harmed. 

ItIem".,. of the T .. m W818: 

Team Leeder 

Member 

Member 

Member 

Ventris Gibson Director, Office of Human Resources 

Veterans Benefits Administration 

Washington, DC 

Caren E. Eirkson Chief, Personnel Division 

National Cemetery System 

Washington, DC 

Michael Walcoff Director, VA Regional Office 

Huntington, West Virginia 

Nancy M. Moran Staff Attorney (Outstationed) 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 

Office of Regional Counsel 

Waco, Texas 

1 
Member 

Member 

69 

Ronald H. Dooley Regional Counsel 

Office of Regional Counsel 

Nashville, Tennessee 

Thomas McKeever General Attorney 

Peggy Joyner 

Office of General Counsel 

Washington, DC 

Team Leader, Team West 

Office of Equal Opportunity 

Wuhinglon. DC 

On MIIy 20, 1997, the Team began their review with an initial10-day visit 

to the Fayetteville VANe and concluded by conducting an additional 1O-day 

inveetigMion and review utilizing a structured approach focusing on the effects 

of Mr. CtI!hcuI's tenure on the Fayetteville VANe. In preparing the preliminary 

report, the Teem included l'8COfMl8I'ICIaons as to appropriate action for each 

incident reported and subIta1tiated. 

The T..." embnH;ed WfY apecItIc and cINtIy defined approach .. and 

ptOCedutM. TheN Include the following: 

a) Ensured that the review did not interfere, or in any way compromise, the 

F-vett8Yllle VANe's llbility to provide patient care, nor did it interfere with an 

employee's duties and responsibilities.. 

b) Reviewed relevant rec::ords including the Inspector General's Report, the 

settlement agreement between VA and Mr. Calhoun, David Whatley Report, 

Alexander and Alexander Consulting Firm's Report, the EEO Climate Survey, 

and the Site Vl8its Memorandwn dated May 16,1997. The Team also gained 

input from the servicing Regional Counsel officials about any additional 

pending F-vetteville cases. Additionally, the Team reviewed a transcript 

involving Dr. Leroy Groes, VISN 6 Director. 

c) Met with the Interim Director, Associate Director, Acting Chief of Staff, and 

the Chief of Engineering (who acted as the Associ_ Director for a period 01 

time) on May 21, 1997, at 9:00 a.m., to discuss their general observations. 

d) Obtained appropriate offICe and confarence room space with locking 

capllbility, equipped with telephones, personal computers and printers, and 

general office supplies located away from the Director's Suite. 

2 
60 

e) Disseminated information to employees by electronic mail ancI bulletin tx.rd 

postinga to inform them of the Team's preI8rIC8 ancI avIIilllbility, should they 

wish to diaaJu c:oncems. 

f) Ensured that employees could communicate with the Team outside of official 

duty hours by providing a 24-hour telephone runber from Wednesday, May 

21, 1997, through close of business Tuesday, Mey 27, 1997. The Team was 

available 12 hours each business day and up to 14 hours on Sah.r'day, 

Sunday, and Memorial Day. 

g) Met at the end of each day, to diaaJU that day's events ancI established the 

agenda and schedule for the next day. 

h) Examined all pending EEO complaints. Through the examination of EEO 

cases, supporting documentation, and in speaking with numerous 

employees, the Team believed it could focus its review towards meeting ita 

charge. The rationale for this first approach was designed to ferret out 81 

much information from as many different sources 81 possible to minimize the 

chances that disaiminatlon or other kinds of misconduct might be concealed 

from the Team, and ultimately, the Secretary and Congress. 

i) Met with Union Officials, Service Chiefs, the EEO PMnager, the Associate 

Director, the Executive Board of the Blacks In Government, national Blacks In 

Government officials, and the EEO Counselor with the largest case load. In 

addition, the Team met with approximately 100 employees, among which 

included many professional, managerial, and supervisory employees. At. the 

Team's request, the Human Resources Manager provided the chronological 

files of Personnel Actions for the past two years on all accessions, 

reassignments, demotions (with evidence files), voluntary change to lower 

grades, detaill, and separations. Further, the Teem reviewed relevant merit 

promotion records, official personnel folders, travel documents, time end 

leave documants, Director's Office correspondence mes, IG Hotline Inquiries, 

computerized listings, organizational charts, incentive awards, case law, and 

all current EEO complaint files and disciplinary/adverse actions from 

February 1994 to June 19,1997. 

j) Analyzed preliminary information obtained from approximately 100 witnesses. 

k) Returned to Fayetteville on June 15, 1997, and obtained sworn testimony 

from a host of witnesses, Internal and external to VA VA employees were 

advised of their rights and given an opportunity to have a representative 

present during questioning. 

I) Advised the President,American Federation d Govemment Employees, 

Local 2080, of the Tum's intent to speak with bargaining unit employees 

3 
61 

m) WQf1(ed closely with the OffICe of Inspector General (lG) and other 

organizations. Remained aware of the status of subpoenas issued to non 

Federal entities. 

n) Identified and fully investigated new issues. 

0) Prepared recommendations to the Deputy Secretary. 

p) Obtained approval from the Deputy Secretary to review findings to determine 

the appropriate personnel action. 

q) Met June 30, 1997, through July 3, 1997, to begin analyzing the information 

obtained from Fayetteville and to finalize its report. 

The Team recognized that no matter how well official. perform in meeting 

EEO and Human Resources responsibilities, or in advancing anti-discriminatory 

policies, there is a good probability, some employees will view some action. or 

deciaiona as being urtaIr or discriminatory. Further, an efficient EEO Program 

within VA provides a full and fair opportunity for all employees, regardless of 

f'8C8, 1Ig8, religion, sex, color, national origin, reprisal, or persons with 

disabilities. The EEO Officer of a facility is the key to a successful EEO 

program, and decisions made by the EEO Officer directly impact the success or 

fllllLn 01 the program. This heightened awareness served as the guiding 

principle for the Team duing ita reviMY and resulted in the Team using broad 

authority and discretion to pursue the review at the Feyetteville VAMC and other 

places the evidence led. 

4 
STATEMENT OF THE MON. JAn, CLYBURN 

RANmNGDEMOC~CMEMBER 

SUBCOMMIUEE ON OVERSIGHT & ItNESTlGATIOHS 

HEARING ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE VA 

JulY 17. 1HZ 

MR. CHAIRMAN, THANK YOU FOR YOUR 

CONTINUED INTEREST IN HOLDING HEARINGS ON 

THE EXTREMELY SENSITIVE AND SERIOUS 

PROBLEM OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT WITHIN THE 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

DURING THIS SUBCOMMITTEE'S TESTIMONY IN 

APRIL ON THIS SUBJECT, WE CALLED ON THE 

DEPARTMENT TO CONDUCT A FOLLOW UP REVIEW 

OF THE TROUBLING INCIDENTS AT THE 

FAYETTEVILLE FACILITY. WE ALSO ASKED THAT 

THE DEPARTMENT FiNAliZE ITS LONG-AWAITED 

SURVEY OF VA EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES ON SEXUAL 

HARASSMENT. I AM PLEASED THAT THE 

DEPARTMENT HAS COMPLETED THESE TASKS, 
63 

At THOUGH I BELIEVE EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS 

THAT MUCH MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE. 

I AM ENCOURAGED BY THE VA'S WILLINGNESS 

TO CONSIDER ADOPTING SIGNIFICANT PROVISIONS 

FROM H.R. 1703, THE VA EMPLOYMENT 

DISCRIMINATION PREVENTION ACT. LANE EVANS 

AND I WERE ORIGINAL CO-SPONSORS OF THIS BILL 

BACK IN 1993 WHEN IT WAS FIRST INTRODUCED. AT 

THAT TIME, THE VA TOLD US THAT CHANGES WERE 

IN THE WORKS REGARD1NG THE EEO PROCESS AT 

VA AND THROUGHOUT GOVERNMENT, AND THAT 

THERE WAS NO NEED FOR THIS LEGISLATION. AS 

MOST OF US KNOW BY NOW, THIS EXPECTED 

GOVERNMENT-WIDE SOLUTION NEVER HAPPENED, 

AND THE PROBLEMS WITH THE VA'S EEO PROCESS 

HAVE CONTINUED TO FESTER. 
M 

FIVE YEARS AFTER THE FIRST HEARINGS WERE 

HELD ON THIS SUBJECT. THE SAME PROBLEMS 

REMAIN AT VA 

IT IS A TRIBUTE TO CHAIRMAN EVERETT THAT 

HE HAS RECOGNIZED THE CONTINUING NEED FOR 

LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE THE EEO PROCESS AT 

VA THIS MAY. WITH BIPARTISAN SUPPORT. TERRY 

INTRODUCED H.R.1703. LEGISLATION DERIVED 

FROM THE BILL THAT WAS FIRST INTRODUCED IN 

1993. 

IT IS ALSO A TRIBUTE TO ACTING SECRETARY 

HERSHEL GOBER THAT HE HAS RECOGNIZED THE 

SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH THE EEO PR~ESS AT 

VA. AND THAT HE HAS PROPOSED AN 

ADMINISTRATIVE SOLUTION THAT DRAWS IN LARGE 

PART FROM THE BILL WE HAVE INTRODUCED 

DURING THIS CONGRESS. 
66 

IN MY VIEW, HOWEVER, THE VA'S PROPOSALS 

IN THIS AREA DO NOT GO FAR ENOUGH, AND THERE 

IS STILL THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION IN THIS AREA. 

I AM EXTREMELY INTERESTED IN HEARING THE 

VA'S TESTIMONY ON THIS ISSUE THIS MORNING. I 

LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH THE VA AND MY 

COLLEAGUES ON THIS COMMITTEE TO ENSURE 

THAT WE FINALLY ADDRESS THIS CRITICAL ISSUE, 

AND THAT WE RESTORE THE FAITH AND TRUST IN 

THE EEO PROCESS THAT OUR VA EMPLOYEES AND 

OUR VETERANS DESERVE. 
86 

PREPARED STATEMENT OP CoNGRBSSMAN MAscARA 

Good Mo~ Mr. Chairman. Aa a DeW member of tbia .ubcommittee, I am boDond to be PlU'ticipatiDc in tbia important beariDc tbia ID01'DiaI to .. mine HA 

1708, tile VA Emp~t DiIcrimiJiatioD PNftDtiOD Act. 

to 

I 

live 

am pleued 

UI an update 

tIie top on leadenhip the Depa11ment'. of the Department eftOrt to ofVeteraDI 

no longer 

AfI'ain 

tolerate 

U'e 

anCl ~ truly 

efuDinate IGU&lDaraument from aIIlevell of tile VA. 

I undentancl Actiq Secretary Gober will teItif.y that the VA oppoI8I enactm_t 

of H.B. 1708 and would prefer to .. tablilh a .tronpr equal employment opportunity 

(EEO) ~ adminiItratively. 

While I know tile VA'. intent II honorable, I would hope 1'Iu all undentand and 

tile memberI of tbia .ubcommittee U'e 1O!ac to upect lOme ftrm action to lee that 

tbeae kind of incideDt. DO I.!»~ occur. We are plg to ezpect lOme definite, iDdeJleDlient procell that will fully inveItipte IU\W IWumient complaint. and lee 

that ~priate dilciplinai'1 actiODI U'e taken. 

My ~ II ttiat in the put, the VA GeaeraI CoUDlel hal cwerturned 8& 

J)8I'C8Dt of the ftndiDp of IGU&I liaraument that have been found u a .... u1t of 

the current admmiatrative procell. I think the molt objective obeerver would lAY 

that cIeuI7 ahowIlOme=~ ~ that tile VA Deeda to do better. PiDaIl1, I want to aIIo pralle '7 co _, Kank1DI Member Lane Ev8DI and RepreleDtative ClYburn for cham~ninc illue over tile ye&I'I. 

I unCIentand u bOth were IIUCCeUfuI in . . Boule aI of Iemalation 

"f!8f IimiIar to d 1708 following an incidenr:!\n~ ~ Atlanta VA t'acilit)' m 1992. 

I am lOrry that after five ye&I'I, we Hem to be back at 1qU&re ODe. However..&. I 

do have hope that with a.tronc commitment from Actiq SeCretary Gober and lIr. 

Kizer, we can all work topther to He that the VA truly liveI up to it. "zero tolerance- for IGU&I haraumeilt polic:y. 

I look forward to lilteninc to tDiI morninI'. teltimo~ and I yield back the balance of my time. 
67 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. LANE EVANS 

RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT & ItNESDGADONS 

HEARING ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE VA 

JulY 17. 1997 

MR. CHAIRMAN AND RANKING DEMOCRAT 

CLYBURN, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR 

CONTINUED INTEREST IN THE VERY IMPORTANT 

PROBLEM OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT WITHIN THE 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. TODAY'S 

HEARING IS A CLEAR INDICATION OF YOUR 

CONTINUING COMMITMENT TO SOLVING THIS 

PROBLEM. 

WE HEARD TESTIMONY BACK IN 1992 ON 

THIS ISSUE WHEN I SERVED AS CHAIRMAN OF THIS 

SUBCOMMITTEE. UNFORTUNATELY, MANY OF THE 

PROBLEMS THAT WERE BROUGHT TO OUR 

ATTENTION BACK THEN CONTINUE TO PERSIST AT 

THE VA TODAY. 
68 

WE MUST ADDRESS THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT 

PROBLEM AT THE VA, AND WE MUST DO ALL WE 

CAN TO RE-ESTABLISH FAITH AND TRUST IN THE 

EEO PROCESS. WE MUST SEE TO IT THAT THERE 

IS NO NEED FOR THIS TYPE OF HEARING FIVE 

YEARS - OR EVEN ONE YEAR - FROM NOW. 

I AM PLEASED WITH THE IMPORTANT FIRST 

STEPS THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY THE VA AND 

ACTING SECRETARY HERSHEL GOBER TO FIX AN 

EEO PROCESS THAT IS CLEARLY BROKEN. I 

BELIEVE HERSHEL IS SERIOUS ABOUT CORRECTING 

THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND EEO PROBLEMS AT 

THE VA. I AM ALSO ENCOURAGED BY HERSHEL'S 

WILLINGNESS TO TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY 

FOR SOLVING THIS FESTERING ISSUE. 
69 

I RECOGNIZE THE VA'S HONEST EFFORTS TO 

PROPOSE AN ADMINISTRATION FIX TO THE EEO 

PROCESS. UNLESS THE VA IS WILLING TO MAKE 

SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER CHANGES IN ITS EEO 

PROCEDURES, HOWEVER, I STILL BELIEVE IT WILL 

TAKE LEGISLATION LIKE H.R.1703 TO GET THE JOB 

DONE. 

I BELIEVE CHAIRMAN EVERETT AND JIM 

CLYBURN SHARE THIS VIEW. I AM ENCOURAGED BY 

HERSHEL'S WILLINGNESS TO WORK WITH US ON 

THIS ISSUE, AND I LOOK FORWARD TO THIS 

MORNING'S TESTIMONY. 
'10 

The Honoreble MichHI Blliraki. 

Subcommitt .. on Oveqight end Inveatigdona 

July 17, 1897 

Th ... k you, Mr. Chail1Nfl. 

I want to commend you and Mr. Clyburn for scheduling today'. 

follow-up hearing on .. xual harassment Issues and H.R. 1703, the 

Department of Vat ....... ' Affair. Employment Discrimination 

Prevention Act. I appreciate the opportunity to participate In the 

hearing even though I am not a member of your Subconvnltt ... 

also w ... t to welcome Senator Faircloth to our Committee. 

At our April hearing, .. veral VA employ ... taatified about their 

experiences with sexual harassment at the Fayetteville VA Medical 

Center. It took a great deal of courage for them to come forward 

and share their stories with us. I think most members of this 

Subcommltt .. w ... e dismayed with the situation at the Fayetteville 

medical facility. 

I could not halp but experience a .ense of deja vu at our first 

hearing. The stories we heard at our April hearing closely 

mirrored tho.e of VA employees who testified before the 
71 

Oversight Subcommittee in 1992 when I served as the Ranking 

Minority Member. 

Our 1992 hearing revealed that the VA process in place at the VA 

for investigating sexual harassment complaints was seriously 

flawed. Our 1997 hearingahowed that the process is atiI1 flawed. 

In this regard, I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of 

Chairman berett's legislation, H.R. 1703, the Department of 

Veterans' Affairs Employment Discrimination Prevention Act. I am 

heartened to :see that the Department is taking action to correct its 

EEO process. Although I have great confidence in Secretary 

Gober, lam disappointed that the VA is not supporting our 

Jegialation. I am skeptical that the Department's.Aldministrative 

8Ctions will adequately correct the problems within the current 

process. 

This skepticism is based on the Department's track record on this 

matter. In 1993, the House aPJWoved legislation that would have 

provided for improved and expedited procedures for resolving 

complaints of employment discrimination, including sexual 

harusment complaints. At that time, Secretary Brown opposed 

H.R. 1032 because he preferred to take edministrative action, and 

the bill was not enacted into law. The Secretary was sincere and I 
'12 

believe that he truly Intended to fix the problem. 

But almost five years later, we are faced with a similar situation at 

the VA. While I believe Secretary Gober Is sincere In his efforts to 

eddress the sexual harassment problems that were documented In 

our April hearing, I em not convinced that Congress should defer 

legisinve action again. I certainly do not want to find out a few 

years from now that the EEO process Is stiR broken. I prefer that 

we work with the Secretary to see that the process Is fixed once 

and for ell. 

I hope this hearing will give us some additional guidance on how 

to reform the complaint process. Hopefully, this guidance will be 

a step toward assuring that sexual harassment anywhere in our 

society, especially in our veterans' hospitals, will not be tolerated. 

Once again, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for scheduling this hearing. 

I look forward to working with you, Representative Clybum and 

the other members of the Oversight Subcommittee on this 

important matter. 
73 

Sta .... t of Seu .... La_ ,.1IIrdotIt 

befon tile 

Ho .. Ve ....... ' AmlIn SabeoaaaIttee 

.. Oventpt aDd lavestlptloa 

J1IIy 17, 1997 

Mr. C..........., tIwIk yoa for IIlYilbla _ to appear lten befon ,.... 

sabcoJllllllttee tIIiI.......... I appreciate your aIIowIq me to testify oa tIdI 

Importaat matter. 

TIle prolJlelll of saul ....... _t wlddIl tile DepartmeDt of Vete ..... 

Af&In w. bdtI8IIy bro .... to my .tteadoa by tile ICDdaIS1llTO ........ 

former DIrector Jerome CaIIto .. at tile ".,.umne VA Medical Cater. 

TIle deadII of tile ,.ayette •• dtaa .... an weD ..". ....... t aD of • 

aDd I see _ reaIOIl to beat • dead 1aone. •• tho.1 ....... t add dlat to .... 

tile ,..yettmIIe dtaatloa .... _t beeIl appropriately resolved. 

Tod.y, Iwoald lib to preteat to the sabcommlttee • eoutnactlve 

......... IIIat w ..... preveat sada • blatut ab .. of .athorlty from 

oeearrbII apIJL TIle _are I speak of" Seute BDI 801 aDd Ho .. BII 

1703. 'nII1 ..... tIoa establishes the 0fIke of Rmploymeat Dllalmlaatloa 

Complabats ReloiDtioa (ORDCR) wlddIl the Departmeat. ThIs oflke woOl 

be I'UIl by • director who would nport 01lly to tile Seeretary or Als ..... t 

Secretary of tile VA. 

TbJs ehanp represeats a IipUlcant dltrennee In the way the VA 

eurready handles senai harMsment .Itd other employment dllcrlmlnatloa 

daImI. BeDeve It or aot, tile eurreat proeeu allows for complaints to be 

haIldled wlddIl the facility when they o ....... ted. 'nil bIIwould eeatrallze 

tile •• dlorlty for hudllq eomplalllts and parDtee dlat otlldall .t tile 

very bipelt level an held auo .. table for tile alUCY's respo.e -

aeco .. tablUty WM lO_thiDa IOnly missed III tile Jero_ CaIIto .. ease. 
74 

hrtIIer, dill bIB 1&1 ..... tile Seen..., of tIao VA to pnmde 

Co ... uauDy wJCIa a detailed report of tile JH'GII"'II of tile OEDCll 

Obvloaaly, eoqreulo'" ovenJpt II Deeded wi .... dill area of tile VA. 

Had Co ... DOt addnued tile C ...... baddeat, It mtpt line '- kept 

uder wrap. 

Mr. C..........., I bave reviewed the receDt report wlddt baa beeB 

lllaed by tile VA Task Porce OD tile EEO. ADd I appreciate tile dmeIbaeu 

and atIeIltion dill ..... baa beeB pn by ActIna Secretary Goller 

TIle Department, apen eompIetion of tile Tat Porce ....n, baa 

uaoueed Ita In .. don to oftl'llanl tile EEO proceu; and ~ of tile 

prepoHd cbaJIIes HelD very dOH to tile .epladoa pat fortIa In tile 80 ... 

ad Seate. TIle main cIUrerence laere beIq tlaat tile VA II Ubly to 

reeoaunencl tlaat cIaupI In tile proc:esl be made Intemally and at dllcredon 

of tile Department. Let me .. y limply and dIredIy tlaat dill II DOt a pod 

Idea. 

I remember back to the sunal huanmeDt IeaIldal wIitda took plaee 

at tile VA Medical FadUt)' In Aduta. That lIlddent wa .... addreued by 

CODlftlI ad to restore tile eonfldeDce of tile VA employees, dill lame 

.",don w. Introduced In the Ho .... 

The Deputment responded to Co ........ o ... preslare by layiq It 

woald adopt a abIolnte "zero toleruce" policy for sunal ~ 

J .... Bnnna ldmHlf ltated tlaat Ile woald be penouDy respoIIdble for tile 

poIIcy'l bapIe ..... tado ... 

WeD, foal' yeus later and evell tile VA ItIeIf'l ..... tlIat, 'tile policy of 

zero tolerance baa '-iDldldent to create a caitlin wlthIa tile 
75 

Departme.t III wlddt ........ meDt ad dllerlmlnado ........ tIler tolerated 

.or eo.doned. 

It IeeIDl dear to _ .... t daaJIIes III the way daImI .... haDdIed ..... t 

be mandated by Coqreu teplatlvely. Only tileD wDI the employees of the 

VA be alured of a seeare ad reliable Iystem. 

Mr. ChaIraIu, from the very bePnDIna, tile lneIdent .... t took place 

III FayettevDle bas wefahed heavily OD my mind. To this day, I ItIIl tInd It 

ablolately rIdIenloDl .... t lerome Calhoun wa fleldI:nI tile eomplabats .... t 

were lodJed apiDlt him. Perhaps If tIIiI .... lado. bad beeD III plaee, tIIiI 

IltuadoD wonld have never oeeurred •••• I know ODe thbI& i»r Iare, lero_ 

Calhoun wonld DOt have been the penOD dlreetly respoDlible i»r his own 

Investiaadon. 

ADd lady Mr. Chairman, let me lay o.ee more, .... t untO lerome 

Calho .. II fired, omdall III the VA .... dolna tile Departme.t'l employees 

a dIIJDldee. ThIs man mDlt 10. 
76 

STATIIMIINT O' 

THE HONORABLE HERSHEL W. GOBER 

ACTING SECRETARY 

BEFORE THE 

SUBCOMMI1TEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS 

COMMI1TEE ON VllTERANS' AFFAIRS 

HOUSEOF~ENTA~ 

Jaly 17, 1997 

.......... 

Mr. 0Wrman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you to testify about the very 

important issue of sexual haruement in the workplace. I am pleued to provide 

an update on the progress that has been achieved at the Fayetteville VA Medical 

Center since the last hearing on April 17. We have been working on other 

related issues and today I will share that information with you as well. 

Progress at FayetteviUe V AMC: 

I am pleased to report that we have accomplished a great deal at 

Fayetteville since the last hearing. The recommendations of the various teams 

that studied the problems, and my own site visit has led me to the conclusion 

that our bottom to top approach to identify and confront the problems there has 

helped Fayetteville employees on the road to healing. I am disturbed that the 

employees at this V AMC were subjected to such a difficult situation. But I am 

encouraged that, with concentrated effort and the proper leadership, the healing 

process has begun. The Fayetteville employees are good people who are 

dedicated to the care of veterans even during such trying times. I am very proud 

of these employees and they are commended for continuing to carry out their 

responsibilities and honorably serving veterans who seek care at Fayetteville. 
77 

An EEO site visit was conducted at the V AMC on April 21-24, 1997, to 

_ the commitment of the facility in supporting the Department's Equal 

Opportunity Program. The format £or the review included opportunities for 

everyone. Including employees. former employees. and other interested 

individuals to voice their concerns. As an outgrowth of the visit, an Interim 

BEO Advisory Committee has been appointed £or an wwpecified period of time. 

It was established to provide guidance and recommendations to the interim 

management team at Fayetteville. Sixteen individuals. representing a crosssection of Fayetteville V AMC employees, are serving on this committee which is 

charged with helping to refocus and revitalize the medical center's EEO efforts. 

As you know, Mr. Michael Phaup, Director, V AMC Durham, was 

assigned as the Interim Director at the Fayetteville V AMC effective May 2,1997. 

Mr. Phaup has done an exemplary job in providing direction and leadership 

while serving as a stabilizing force during this difficult period for the medical 

center. Mr. Phaup has worked to reestablish communication with stakeholders, 

both internal and external. He has refocused the attention of the medical center 

on quality care and customer satisfaction and regularly tours the medical center 

and work sites where he informally interacts with employees, patients, and 

visitors. In addition, he has established and put into place a process for 

recruitment and selection of personnel for vacant positions. 

Because concerns were raised about the integrity of the computerized EEO 

tracking system at Fay~, on May 12-15, 1997, the facility's EEO tracking 

program was carefully examined by an experienced EEO Investigator, who is 

also an expert in the EEO software tracking package used nationwide at VA 

facilities. Documentation of EEO complaints was Cl"OII8-Checked with entries in 

the tracking system and problems identified were immediately corrected. A 

follow-up visit will be scheduled in August to ensure the program has been 

maintained appropriately and to identify additional training needs. 
78 

To further aid the healing pl'OClllllS at Fayetteville, I approved the detall of 

an Interim EEO Manager, Mr. Austin LewIs, Human Reeounles Management 

Specialist, in the Veterans Benefits AdmInistration. Mr. LewIs is highly 

respected and is extremely knowledgeable in EEO matters having served the 

YBA southern region for some years as an EEO investigator and trainer. 

Mr. LewIs, along with an EEO Specialist from VA Central Office, 

completed a technica1 review of pending EEO cues. Additionally, Mr. LewIs 

conducted an EEO training program for supervisors and managers to ensure that 

they fully understand their EEO re8pOlISlbllities. During the week of July 25, Mr. 

Lewis will also provide EEO training to all V AMC Fayetteville employees, 

emphasizing discrimination complaint procedures and employee rights. 

A new management team for the Fayetteville VA Medical Center will be 

in place very soon. We are in the final stages of selecting a DIrector. On May 27-

28, 1997, fina1ists for the Chief of Staff position were interviewed at the 

University of North Carolina School of Medicine, the VISN 6 Office and the 

Fayetteville V MN:.. The final aelection for Chief of Staff, however, will be made 

by the new Medlca1 Center DIrector. The vacancy announcement for the 

Associate DIrector position doaed on June 27, 1997 and the ae1ection proceu will 

be expedited. 

Morale of the employees at Fayetteville has been a major concern for me 

and for the leadership in the Veterans Health Administration. On May 1-2, 1997, 

a team of skilled Chaplains provided counseling support to staff at the 

Fayetteville VA Medical Center. They were well received by employees who 

used their services. Meetings with the Chaplains were confidential and allowed 

many employees to express their emotions and concerns in a safe, supportive 

environment. Additional visits have been scheduled. 

I personally visited the Fayetteville VAMC on June 5, 1997 to meet with all 

employees and reassure them that I am aware of the problems that exist there. I 

conveyed my sensitivity about the number of reviews which have been 
79 

conducted at the Fayetteville V AMC and the resultant UIldety and discord 

among employees and in negative publidty for the medical center. I aaured 

them that such reviews were neceuary in order to get to the v~ root of the 

problems and work toward a permanent solution. We plan to oontinue 

providing prosr- reports to this Committee every sixty (60) days until there is 

COIUII!I18U5 that Fayetteville Is solidly on the right path. I have 8e1\t a 

memorandum to employees of the Fayetteville V AMC thanking theD\ for their 

oontinued prore.ionaIiIm and compuslon toward our veterans. I further 

.-.red them that they Ihould not feu any act of reprisal by any offidal. 

AddItionaIlnqalrin at Fayetle9DIe: 

On May 16, 1997, I COIIUJIissioned a team of highly experienced 

professionals with legal and human resources backgrounds to determine the 

prosr- of all pending complaints and claims at the Fayetteville V AMC 

regardIeIa of whether employees filed the complaints under Equal Employment 

Opportunity discrimination complaints procedures, the grievance procedure, or 

through the OffIce of the Inspector General. I also charged the team with 

determining if Fayetteville employees were improperly reueigned, transferred, 

demoted, or otherwise harmed by order of, or action by, management. I further 

gave the team broad authority to review any other issues they found to be 

relevant and will ensure that these Issues rearive the attention of the interim 

management team. 

The team began a 10-day visit at Fayetteville V AMC on May 21, 1997, 

speaking with approximately 100 diHerent employees and examining a 

multitude of official records and other documents. After analyzing the 

information they obtained, the team returned to Fayetteville on June 16, 1997, to 

obtain sworn statements. The findinga of the team are now being reviewed at 

Central OffIce for appropriate action. 
80 

EEOprucaa: 

On May 15, 1997, I announced that an IIpncJ' tuk &ne would be 

appointed and c:hupd with the NIpCINibIlity 01 exaIIIirIins the ~ BBO 

<XIIIIp1aint proc:BI in VA and determining whether that proc:BIla IIddng and 

required change. The task &ne reported to me 01\ July 1 with a eerieI 01 

recommendations. 

The task force is compoeed of a divene group with repraentatives from 

VACO, field facilities, staff offices, uniana and major agency componenta. Their 

charge was a formidable undertaking given the time constraints. However, the 

task force reported on time and produced a quality report. 

With respect to the content of the report, the recommendations include 

putting in place an organizational structure that in iarge measure resembles the 

modele out in H.R. 1:703. The report recommends that 

• A separate office of complaint resolution be established and given 

responsibility for complaint processing; 

• Facility Directors no longer function as £EO Officers; 

• The office of complaint resolution would report to the Secretary 

through the Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and 

Administration rather than through a line component; 

• The majority of EEO Counselors would be full-time employees 

appointed and supervised by the office of complaint resolution; and 

• The majority of £EO Investigators would be full-time employees 

appointed and supervised by the office of complaint reaolutlon. 

Facility Directors would no longer function as EEO officers, appoint or control 

collateral duty EEO counselors, nominate collateral duty investigators, or 

perform any complaint processing functions. 

While implementation and cost details are still being addressed, I am 

pleased to say that I am in general agreement with the recommendations in the 

report and will work with EEOC regarding their implementation. I am 
81 

convinced that the will to change the complaint proa!IIS exists within the 

DepartIIIeftt, and I am further convinced that the task force recommendations 

will not only achieve the legislative intll!nt of H.R. 1103, butassuft! this 

Committee, our employees and the veterans we aerve, that VA is firmly 

mmmltted to making the agency an employer of first choice and ensuring that a 

fair and neutral plOClellll is available to thoee employees who believe that they 

haw bem the ¥IctImIJ« cIIecriDUnation. 

HA 1703: 

We oppose enactment of H.R. 1703 for several reasons. Those reasons are 

explained in detail in our official report on the bill. I would, however, 1ike to 

highlight a few of thoee reasons for the Committee. 

First, if enacted, this bill will remove the administrative flexibility needed 

by the Secretuy to adapt to changing needs and c:Ircwnstances that might arise 

aa a result of govemment-wide complaint proceasIng changes implemented by 

the EBQC, or clumpd drcumItmceII witIUn the Depu1ment. 

Seoond. the bDll!Inp!s out and subjecta VA and its employees to a 

c:omplaint pIOCIeIIII that grants fewer rights and would be quite different &om the 

rest of the Federal government. For example, the bill denieI VA employees the 

right to file EEO complaints cxmceming the most slpfic:ant penonneI actlons 

that can occur In Federal employment, such aa removaJa and reductions In grade. 

Other Federal govemment employees would sti1l have the rlsht to c:IIooR 

between the EEO complaint plOClellll and the MSPB'. appeal procedU1'8 if they 

wished to challenge such actions. VA employees, on the other hand, would be 

restricted to the MSPB'. forum only. VA'. employees should have the same 

rights as other Federal government employees to chooee between the EEOC'. 

procedures and the MSPB'. procedwa. 

Third, the bill purports to eliminste the perception that the Department 

decides complaints against itlelf; that, In effect, "the fox is guarding the hen 

house." We doubt, however, that the bill would dispel this perception. The bill 
82 

would still provide for the Department to aCXlept.inveatlpte, and decide 

complaints agalnat itself. Althoup VA adminIItrative law judges, rather tIIan 

VA attorneys, would iIIue dedlioni WIder the bill,. it is unlikely that VA 

employees" outside the beltWay" would appreciate the dlItinf::tion. The latter 

would still be viewed by the rank II1d file as VA employeel who are controlled 

by the Department. 

FInally, md perbapII moet IiglUfkant.IIIOIt 01 the -"in the bill CIn 

be accomplished by the administrative NOlpIIization I c:IiIcuIIecl previouIly. A 

legislative mandate will not be required. We can reIICh the _-wt 

administratively, and I am cmnmitted to doing 110. 

SexuI H_t SUlYey: 

Congreasiona1 hearings concerning 1II!XU8lhara8sment oonducted by this 

Subcommittee in 1992 reaulted in the GAO conducting a lltudy of 12 VA medical 

centers to collect information regarding sexual haraasment in VA. This lltudy 

recommended that the Secretary of Veteran.II Affairs consider conducting an 

Agency-wide survey of employees concerning the issues SIIITOunding sexual 

harassment. 

The Secretary's ad hoc Working Group on Sexual Harassment that had 

beat appointed in 1992 wulftdivated by Secretary Jesse Brown in 1993. 

Additional members were appointed and the group was asked to re-open 

discuaeim of the issue. During a meeting in April 1993, the Working Group 

disc:wIIed the value of conducting a survey of aU VA employees. The group 

could best address the issue of needed action if there were an objective, 

comprehensive description of sexual harassment issues, and the extent and 

nature of sexual harassment within the Agency. A recommendation was made 

to determine the feasibility of conducting a survey, and group members began to 

develop a preliminary instrument. At another meeting in November 1993, a new 

Chair was eeIected and the pup reviewed the propoeed survey instrument md 

subeequently, the survey procees was initiated. Considerable debate 0CCUJ'n'd 
8S 

CMlI' the next -u montha reprdlng the need to CXIrIduct a 100% sample 

turYe)', which would CXIIt Marly ,lo5M. NUIIIerOWIllatistica1 experts 

reaxnmended that a valid llatisticalllUllple would provide accurate 

information. In September 199f, it was determined that VA would survey a 

llatistica1ly valid sample. which was determined to be 30.000 employees. The 

cost was expected to be approximately $'300.000. 

NegotiatiOlls were begun with the Office of Small and Disadvantaged 

BusIneaaes, to locate a <XlI\IrIctor to mnduct this survey, and a contract was 

awarded to Klemm Analysis Group, Inc., in Septembel' 199f. The draft survey 

pnopared by the Working Group was pf('\'ided to the contractor, who indicated 

tht'Y would develop their own instrument. this was completed and focus group 

testing began in January 1995. The turYe)' was ready for mailing to VA 

employees in early FY 96 and was ultimately delayed due to constraints imposed 

by a IC!rieII of ContInuing Resolutions. Mailing was actually completed in 

Janu.y 1996. 

A preIiDIInary draft of the survey results was provided to VA in July 1996, 

and the Working Group met in August 1996 to review the draft. Since that time, 

there hu been sJsnificant communication between VA and Klemm and 

~ and among members of the Working Group in order to achieve the 

final product that was delivered to VA 01\ July 2, 1997. 

In reviewing the resultsol the turYe)', it is important to note that it 

pn!IISlIs the peRlepIiDrII of the 20)22 respondents. No definition of IIeX1W 

~ was provided in the turYe)' instrument 110 what hu been captured in 

the results reflects the perception ol what VA employees believe III!XUal 

lwusment is - it reflects the respondents' opinions about the environment, and 

not how the respondents feel about a Iepl definition. 

I am pleased to note that the findings indicate that 80 pen:ent of the 

respondents have seen and understand V A'slll!XUal harassment policy and they 

are aware of the process for filing a complaint. This can be directly attributed to 
VA's mandatory sexual haraasment training. AlIo important to note is that the 

respondents believe that VA top management and their own supervisors 

discourage sexual harassment. 

We asked employees to recall their personal experiences regarding 

incidents of unwanted sexual attention and provide their perceptions of VA's 

policy, training and general work environment in order to deal with the issue 

proactively. The Survey results dearly demonstrates VA's actions over the last 5 

years have made a positive impact. I am encouraged and I shall continue to 

move ahead with an aggreasive reaffirmation of VA's "zero tolerance policy." 

Based on VA's review of the sexual harassment the survey results we have 

identified areas where improvements are needed. We have organized theae 

areas under four categories: 

1. GmmII RecommendAtions: 

• VA should develop a Mission Goal and Operating GaUl whkh 

provide the value of a positive Workplace Environment This must 

beCXIme part of eXIsting staff support of&ee, VBA. VIlA. and NCS 

operational goals regarding aa:ountabllity and the workplace 

environment. By this mec:hanlam. Under Sec:retarJs and all odIer 

levels of management will dearly demoostrate Itrong IIUppOrt for 

acknowledging and dealing with this i8RIe. 

• VA should formulate a "V ALUESN etatement, whkh is a key part 

of many organizations today and would be useful for VA. The 

following would be emphasi8ed in such a etatement Integrity. 

Honesty. Trust. Empowerment. Accountability, Caring, Diversity. 

etc. 

• VA should continue to emphasize the value of diversity in the 

organization by learning to respect those who are different from 

each of us and valuing the perspective these differences bring to 

our agency and society. 

• Messages - verbal and nonverbal must be consistent: 

Behavioral expectations must be clearly stated 

for all employees and modeled by executives 

and managers. 

2. MIlnIlging tM Process, V A should: 

• Establish a "consulmm- list to be available when allegations of 

sexual harassment occur in the organization. Intervention or 

advice could be requested from these -consultants" by any key 

management official at any time to assist in developing a plan to 

deal with individual issues or cases. 
86 

• Identify a means to c:orI8Oiidate and genente information within 

the agency regarding other management coocems (e.g., 

inappropriate WIe of power, sexual harassment complaints). In 

other words develop IIJ\ Nearly warning system." 

• Look at the potential for developing a "Crisis Intervention Team" 

to promote healing and help facility management move forward 

when incidents do occur at high levels. 

• Evaluate how we provide uaistance and IUpport to individuals 

who have been haraaeed. This needs to include feedback we 

provide to them regarding actiolla taken against ~.H 

• The Table of Penalties needs to be distributed to all managerial 

levels for WIe In dealing with eexual huulment. 

• Expand the WIe of Altemative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for 

discu8sing --

3. Executive Sdectimt, Owtlopmtnt, PlIIammt II7Id Accmmfllbility, VA Mou1d: 

• Evaluate the sc:reening and selection plOOl!88 for executives. 

Utilize Core Competencies IS developed by the VHA task force 

to evaluate current managers. Inaeue accountability of those 

who recommend individuals for executive positions and for 

prospective managers. 

• Evaluate how VA is holding officials acoountable at each level 

of the organization. 

4. Training: 

• Results of the survey show that employees generally felt the 

mandated training provided in 1993 and to all new employee!' has 

been helpful and clarified VA expectations. In addition. most 

employees have recently completed refresher training during 1996. 

The .:ontinued requirement for 2 hours of refresher EEO and 

Prevention of Sexual Harassment Training every 2 years is 

appropriate. Training materials developed for the 1998 certification 

of completion should specifically address: 

~ Prevention of harassment from co-workers. 

~ Dealing with harassment from individuals who 

are not VA employees. 

~ How to deal with the issue if you have to go outside the supervisory chain. 

~ The location of training. Training should take place in the 

actual work environment, instead of impersonal sessions; 

group discussion should be a major part of the training. 

~ Discussion of why individuals don't report , and the level of 

hopelessness they fee\. 

~ Ensuring involvement of task force members in 

development of a training program. 

~ Developing constant reminders of the expectations -

a series of posters, rather than the same one for 

four years. 

~ The results of the survey should be an agenda item for 

the next series of executive management meetings, 
86 

and should Include cUIc:uIIIon of the need for 

executives to be supportive of training regarding 

prevention of sexual haruIment. 

~ Involving National Partnership CouncIl in developing 

training plana and mechanIams. 

~ Measuring effectiveness of training. 

~ A focus on the needs to identify this Issue as a conduct, 

behavior and safety iasue. 

We intend to immediately begin developing an action plan to Implement 

these recommendations. We will be happy to share the pian with you. 

Conclusion: 

As is my practice, I have used every appropriate forum at my disposal, 

including congressional hearings, to send the message to VA employees that 

sexual harassment will not be tolerated under this Administration. I shan 

continue to deliver this message and I expect all managers in the chain of 

command to do likewise. I will be holding our managers accountable for 

identifying sexual harassment problems and taking appropriate action to make 

the victim whole with appropriate discipline to the harasser. I will continue the 

policy of zero tolerance of sexual harassment within the Department of Veterans 

Affairs. 

I hope that we can continue to keep the lines of communications open in 

the future to work in concert through any situation that may face us. 

Mr. Chairman, again, thank you for this opportunity to speak more on the 

iasue of sexual harassment. This concludes my formal statement, my colleagues 

and I are available to answer any questions you or the Subcommittee Members 

may have. 
8'1 

STATEMENT OF 

Wll..LIAM T. MERRIMAN, DEPUfY INSPECTOR GENERAL 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 

BEFORE THE HOUSE VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, 

SUBCOMMITTE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS 

JULy 17, 1997 

During the hearing before this Subcommittee in April, the Department of 

veterans Affairs made a commitment to investigate outstanding and new 

allegations of impropriety by Jerome Calhoun, the former Director of the 

VA Medical Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In fulfilling that 

promise, the Department asked for assistance from the Office of Inspector 

General on two specific issues. This assistance was provided. 

The first issue was whether there were any sexual harassment complaints 

against Mr. Calhoun during his tenure as the Associate Director at the VA 

Medical Center in Buffalo, New York or during the time he was the Acting 

Director at the VA Medical Center in Batavia, New York. These were 

Mr. Calhoun's assignments prior to his appointment as the Director in 

Fayetteville. 

To review the allegation, the Assistant Inspector General for Departmental 

Reviews and Management Support and a Supervisory Program Analyst with 

the Special Inquiries Division conducted a site visit at these VA medical 

centers. At our request, prior to the site visit, the Director of the Medical 

Centers notified the employees of the visit by distributing a letter to the 

medical center staff at both facilities and by announcing the visit on e-mail. 

Employees were invited to meet with, or otherwise contact, the OIG team if 

they wanted to discuss their experiences with Mr. Calhoun. More than 20 

employees were interviewed by my staff during the review. No current or 

former female employees came forward with an allegation that they were 

sexually harassed by Mr. Calhoun. 

The employees interviewed included a number of employees who were 

involved in and familiar with the EEO programs during the time 

Mr. Calhoun was employed at the two New York V A medical centers. No 
88 

one bad any recoUection of a fonul or informal complaint of sexual 

.......... agaiDst Mr. CaIboun. We reviewed the EEO files for both 

facilities and fouod DO doPII!C!!!bdion of a formal complaint of sexual 

.......... agaiDst Mr. CaIboun. Because ceotralized records of informal 

complainls are not routinely maintained, we were unable to review records 

relating to infonul complaints filed during the relevant time period. 

Based on our review, we coocluded that there was DO evideuce that 

complaints of sexual .......... were filed against Mr. Calhoun while he 

was the Associate Director of the VA Medical Center in BufIBlo or the 

Acting Director at the V A Medical Center in Batavia. During the review, 

current and former employees did bring issues to our attaItion that were 

unrelated to the issue of sexual harassment. Because the issues were similar 

to and within the scope of the review being conducted by the Department at 

the V A Medical Center in Fayetteville, we forwarded the information to the 

Department for follow-up and action, if deemed appropriate. If the 

Department needs assistance in following-up on these, or any other issues, 

the Office of Inspector General will provide the necessary assistance. 

With respect to the second issue referred to us by the Department, we are in 

the process of obtaining, reviewing and analyzing records and other relevant 

information. We expect to refer the results of our investigation to the 

Department in the near future for whatever action the Department deems 

appropriate. Because the review is ongoing and the information is 

maintained in a Privacy Act System of Records, I do not believe it would be 

appropriate to provide further detail on this issue in a public forum at this 

time. 

Thank you Mr. Chairman for the opportunity to provide you with an update 

on the work conducted by the Office of Inspector General since April 

relating to the Department's commitment to follow-up on allegations of 

impropriety by the former Director of the V A Medical Center in 

Fayetteville, North Carolina. 
89 

WRITTBN OOIOO'rl'EB QUBSTIONS AND TBBIR RBSPONSBS 

TIE IEClllTARY OF VE1'IMNI AI'MN 

WAilINnON 

'!'be IIaDanbIe lADe Jmna 

BaaIdDr Democratic MembIr 

c-miUee OIl v ........ AfIain 

U.s.1IoaI8 ol~tativ. 

WubiJIpOD, DC 10616 

Dear Mr. Jmna: 

lXlJ 1_ 

Tbia is alollow-up to pa.t-hNriDI quemOll16, which ... poNd in 

CIIIIMdiIa with die "'.17, 1W7, ..... 0Il1UlW haruameDt in die ~olV ___ AfIain (VA) aDd H.R. 1703, DeparaMnt ofVeteraDa 

AfIiun ~ DiacrimiDatiOD Act. 

Aa I indicated to JOU bJ Wt.er daW September 10, 1997, die VA is 

COIltiDum, to ..... die IIIrftJ to cIetermiDe what additiODal type. 01 data micbt be 

dneIopecl from it. UDforbmat.elJ, _ wiD .. haft the additiODal data IIUl1Iia ... 10Il bJ the tint week olOct.ober, .. apeeted. 'DIe data analyIia is cleJa,ed cIae to 

tedmical dilIlculti .. in rMdinc the data. W. wiD eontiDue to provide 10Il with die 

ltatua 01 oar additiCllllll data UI&lyIia ....., tbirtJ • until _ haft the 

iDfbrmatiOll JOU hav. req1M8tecl. 

W. appreciate the opportuuity to IUbmit tbia iDfbrmatiOll for the ...-d. 

HGtub 

,V" 

.. . 

··~_c"'f:7'" 

. • ~ 
90 

• ne...,.AlWOf~NI'PMa 

...... 

'l'be IIoaaabIe U. sRIaIda& DeaJc:nIIk: ~ 

CnmwIIIoe OB Vaenm' Amia 

U.S.a-oI~ 

W ......... DC20515 

DelrMr.S-: 

8910_ 

BIIcIoIed lie die -.wen to pcIIt-IIeIdBa q1IeItiOBI pcJIed ill , _ .. widldIe 

July 17, 1997, beIriD& OB -abar-.tta die DeplrlmeDtol v_ AfI'aka IIId 

H.R. 1703, DepIrImeDt 01 v_ AfrmI ~ DilcliIaia..x.a ItI;t. 

We 8ppIeCiaIe die opjiOIlUUity 10 IIIIIIIdt IIdI illfudllllicw for ... reccn. 
91 

POST ... EARINCl QUESTIONS 

CONCERNING THE JULy 11, 11117 

HEARING ON SEXlW.. HARASSMDIt IN THE VA AHD 

H.R. 1703, OEP"RnlENT Of' ftTERANS AFFAIRS 

EMI'UmIIIENT ~A1ION ACT 

FROM llIEHONORA8U!lANE !YAHS 

RAHKWQ DEMOCRAnc UUlBER 

COIAIITTEE ON VElERANS' AFFAIRS 

U.s. HOUSE OF AEPRUENTAtlVES 

Quqdon " Mr. Gober, underthl VA', currwnt EEO p_ .. thlOIIIo»ofaen. ... 

Coun'" ..... 11M ""'" ..-ncY decillion on 1M.-tIII of .... -plo,.. •• dlMrimlNodOfl d1 .... 1nIt .. Depwb1l*ot. 0W0r 15% of the II ......... ,.,, 

the o.n.r.t COlI"...·. ollie» halo QYl!)!tDId • lind"" of dlKrI"'r ..... th._ IMdII • Ill' nnl ~ lwei ... 1M EEO dMlIIIon mlidng cMIn within VA. n... ~ .... concInwdlO .. ~..,. SI.-lt12.lhto.n.r.leoun.l', omc.lIM-.rn.d '-"nellnpof ~ on 11 _ of II_lone. 

0Iwn .. m • clMr,..n.m of "'-'on •• nM ........ plO'j'M, ~ _ rou 

.upport 1M view th8t thI a.n.r. CounNI'. oMe. IIhoukI r.tIIln .... uNftI .. 

dKltlDnnlaldng luthorttywllhln II-. VA? Don't ""'""",beN gI .... VA 

.... pI...,...~_lOqunllon ......... MItIIOw-n-.l.~ .. r~ 

hMrIng II by ~ 10 pwMM • dlKflrnlnMlon clMm 81 .. YA? 

AtI-. Although 1he lI!jedIon Igures you dI6 .... CDrnId M IIIlo:dl be naIIod lhallhey 

... g.ereraHy consistef1 'fOIIh • .00 In _1nstIncI& Iowef, IIwo Itoou 0/ OIher 

&\)IIfIdtI$. (S8e AlIactunent I, !able ~ modII\catIon .... r$ClIOn I'Blas II _III 

1111\18 

~ 

~.) Fullhetmo<fl, 1IInoII1988, .... EEOC hIllS allinned toe VA'$ rvjet:IIon 

In lIjlpII1x1malely 70% oI1he -. Each EEO 00ITIIMInI1n VA II and lllwe.ys 

hIllS ~ ~ on • case-by-c:aMI bMIs .nllll' IIhaoough ..-d ~ .....,.. at .. r.4cIenceln .... ~..-.::I"'" IeglllsaoKraisedln lheoomplalnl HavoIMIr, IlecMdeh 

Is essential thIII ~ IIa¥'II conftdencl!lln !he EEO DDI'IIp.InI system. I '- cIfedecI 11M VA', EEO CampIIiInt I'nIces$Ing T .... F~ to -..:amin8 IV laue lind cIeIem*Ie M '*-~ be .... .n&mIiII¥e soIulian 10 !his pen::eIv.I pn>bIem wHcfl _ 

be more ~II to ... empIayges. 

QueMlon 2: You,........nIoned In rour .. dmony, M,. Gober, theI you cion., 

bMI_ wnpIoyee m ...... would "gnHI~y ~ It 11M I19tle11on_ 

Irttn:iducM In thI HouM -.....elM. How do you MI ..... m0/'81e would be 

Improwd uncilor rour ~...cf 'I*h~ mono Impott8ntlr - do rou ,.... M, 

IMIdItI_, ~ on how to Improft emfIIo,... MtItuoa -.t the Ef.O 

~M\lA? 

AM-. lam COI'lIIIncoId lhIdan 1nIe ..... ~ ~ .. .,..,canIed QUI bVVA 

.. 

~ 

!lief IhIIn a IegIsIaINeIy nwdaI1!d ~ lOW cklnolltJiOIe to our IIfT\IIIIIVeN hi _ abouIl!e program .,.., rec:ognIZ8I a comm!!mflnt III reform a 

proo!IISS lhal mIIlJ empIDyees beI_ 10 be impaired. I beIIMIlhaIlhe VA 'MIIkIorte 

.. view Ihe e>IhaIstYe adrnirIIstndYe raotgIIIWdIDn as a paIIltvoe ~ ~ Ihe 

EEO COIl1JIIIInI pnx.a, ..-.g mm a ~ aftorI bV boIh ~ .,.., Ihe 

ra/III .,.., lie Ihrough 1hIII. union ~ on lit ... fI:Irw. The parUc/pIIIofy 

cooponII¥e eIIut In ~ the _ ~ ..., gMI boIh managemenI..-d .... 

-.Idon;:e a sIIIke and prupdeCary InIerest in .. I'IIIW EEO c:ompIaInI~. /Ioa.ud1. 

1 beIkMI flefa .... 1 be an InhemnI GnICItlIIIIy In .. 08W ~re...tlk::h .. 1II'lhanaI 

~mortIIII. The ~~ rep-*alharad oamm/ImenI 

'*-" ~ and ... VA workfon:e 10 a PfOC8SI. whIttI .. penNllhe 

I1ISOItItIon of ~ olspu* In a lair and ~ marne •. 

QueItion 3: 0.. 01.,.,. 111ft"' proDIeo'M matIJ paopIe _ wIIh .... wrnnI EEOC 

~at IIA ....:IltIroughoul .... public MCI pm ... _"' I • .,.,. ~I.ra 

amount of ...... Ie .... tot an ...... pIoyM to ... hi. or ..... oompllllnt throI>gh .,.,. 

..... "'*"ft~ and uftIlIIOIWy 10 Ihe,......-.... In __ ... 

"1""'_ dItaya wor'Ic In 1_ 0I1he _pion[ and ....... IhII ampIO'f'II who Ia 

"""lnl _ fomI of .... 1IIf. 00 JOY baIIwIlt -"d be ..... pfullO _ .. ~ 

10 forCII COUIIMIon and w.w.1ISIIotot'I1O Mrk:tty comply with tImM:tIbIn, InetHd 

01 a.owinl lheM ct-ga to drag on un~ lor Y"" at I lima? 
Iilflll~l! 11II111 jill)fllt:j!!ilijlijil Iljll 11

Iii iIi l!!Jll! Ii il itl,!l~iIJ,11 flil! l

11~~t!51~ ~IJ~! liJ:r~li} I~ -ir~1 il 
93 

dlllCltnllnlllolL VA hili cancU:IIId I8lCUIII t._nent ~ ~ lor II empIoyeea. and lulu .. ~ .. locus on __ .. CIHWOIker t._nent IhId '-

been ~ by theSUMIY. VA .. _In lIB IXII1IInImg review d ... rnaItM IhId IIJII8IVIIOIY roles n .......... _ ... artIcUaled n communIcaIad In 

IIgIrICy poley. 

QueIIIon I: OW..." ... 1IMn talcltMlthe VA·' ...... t...-,t.urwy cIcI not ..... cIDIIn the __ by cAMIfIcIIIIon ..".. of the _pIo,... I'or_. 

the.urwy"'1IOI ~ a _to -.-wthe aItItudaa of 1oM!'..".., ...... 1IargIIInIng unit....,..., with the ......... of managIII*It amployaM. 

c.n tlllalnformaIIon ..... bnIbn cIDIIn, and, If aGo do ""' IhInk h -..Id ... ...... 10 oonduc:I auch 11'1 addIIIonIII....,... of the .."., __ ? c.n til .. 

InfMmIIIon ... bnIbn cIDIIn by VISN or facllty? If ao, will the o.p.tmant 

~ the aw-nmhtM with thIa Information? 

a.-: I '-cII1IdId IhId thelUMly data ba further II'IIIIyZIId to cIIIIam*Ie II .. CII'I 

look II...,... by grade d ernpIoyM. AIIhough I8IPOIIIIaIIIII __ not IIIk8d lor their 

QI'IIdI. theltalf .. conIIrIIIng to _ thelUMly to cIIIIam*Ie willi acdtIonaIlypee d 

data ~ ba dMIIoped. PrelImInary InIonnaIIon Ihould ba available by .. 

SIIptambar n .. ba provided to the ConvnIllH at ... time. When llaSUMIY_ 

conductIId, boIh VA and IIa COIIbadDr promlled empIoyeea who pMIcIpated In the 

SUMIY 1fIOI¥IIIIy. VA feelllIIOngIy that, _ a government ... naed to honor IhId 

pIOIIIIM. Aa auch, iliff paI8OI18IlnIonnaIIon raganIIng ~ or IIaIr duty 

alllgil.1aIII hili been acIuded from the data. In addIIIon.the COIIbadDr _1IIk8d to ...... 1hII paI8OI18IlnIonNiIIon would not ba 1IIbIavIbIe. VA .. provide the 

CoimIIIIaa willi the addIIIonaIlnIonnaIIon IhId ~ ba obIIIIned from llalUMly. It wII 

not ba IIlIa to ba broken down by facIIty. 

QueIIIon 7: Mr. Gobar, can ""' or __ .... on the.,... .... wIIIII h. 

heppanad 10 the live _ who taadtIad bafcn OW' camiIIhIM In AprIL Haathe 

VA IIIIII'IIpIad 10 lind out _Iibout thalr individual cIwgM of clacrlmlnlllon. 

WIllI foI'-up ... VA dona In thIa ragard? 

~ Tha VA hili foIIooMIcI up on the chaigea mada by the .... WDIII8fI. Due to the 

COf1IIIaInII d the Pilvacy Ad, n IIa pubic natu .. d ... ...,.... attached III 

detailed InIormaIIon concemlng the status d the chaigea by the live women who 

I88IIIIad 

~ 

before your committee In ApiI. AllachmenlII .. provided to the Commlll8e for 

pu~ n Ihould not ba piInIed In the pubic I8COId. 

QueIIIon I: c.n ""' apIIIn 10 the _ban of the CommhtM how .. EEOC 

TaIIi: "-_ban _~? c.n ""' .... brIaIIy apIIIn how the TaIIi: 

"--'*I_onha_~? 

~ Tille Foroe iil8IIlbIiIa __ choIen to I8IIecI a WiIeIy 01 vtewpoIrIIII wIIhIn IIa VA work Ion:e. An all8mpl_ mada to not only cIWI8IIy mernbaiIhIp. but to _ .. IhII major VA 0IgII'IIzaII0ni compoi ...... __ .. _lied from boIh a tIeId and VN;O 

penIp8CtIYe. 

~ 

AdcIIIonaIy. IIIIIjor ItaIf oIIIcea n union paiIIcIpaIIon __ baIeved 

to provide aliUlt _ •• ctlco , d InI8niIII wIIhIn the VA community. By 

~ a CXJII1IIOiIIlon from such wrying bac:IcgIoInIIi •• _ beIewid that a IiUIt 

IPIICInm d vIewI would ba avalable to COI1IIdIr nofonn 01 the EEO JIIOCIIII. WIth 

iIgIIfd to ~. the Tille Foroe rnernbI .. agreed Illlha1r IritIaI meeIIng that It ~ ba ~ to ..m toI8I agrMII18I1I on lOIII8 __ • ao It _ dIicIded that II 

75% d the group agreed on a specIIIc ..... that level 01 ~ would ba COI1IIdenid "IxnII'IIUI.' It should ba noted thIiIa VOle _ .-~ IlecaIse 

thellnal iIjIOIt, addr..ad ~" concems. During IIa prapandIon d the AIpOII 

IndIvIduII ~ __ railed. COI1IIdenid. n I8IOIYed to member 8IIIIsfactIon. TheI8 __ no cIaaIIS or dIIiagrMmanI by iil8IIlbIiIa with the IInaI report. 

GuMIIon t: Mr. Gobar,IIIOIt -rona In til .. _lIqIICtItMI _ ""' wi .... 

the 1IIiIIlIrl-ratIwr thll'lthe 61i11D118Ic:r.-y - of the VA. IlIao IhinllIIIOIt 

-rona -.lei ... ""' -.old ... II'IIlIDIIIInt choIcI for the Job. Althe 

8Ic:r.-y of V ..... AIf .. ~ .... -.old ""' ~ "Ibdng the VA', EEO ...--on,our hi of prIorhIaa? WIIII __ II.--.old ... on tMI 1st? 
4 
Recommended Findings * 

~lIe!ICY FY CJ.1 "10 MntlirK"d FY CJ4 

T .. "I·MOOi') ·Rcjc<;1 or Rcjottcd T .. ,,'·Modiry·Rcj<:t1 

r ! 

--r" I>"''PI. of T rcasury 23 I 3 IOJ 'l~.6 7 6 

Depl. of Juslice 

" 6 72.7 12 6 4 

~!'~ oflhe N~v.>' 20 2 12 70 16 3 4 

Veterans Affairs 27 0 22 81.5 26 0 19 

US Postal Service i 135 87 66.4 102 5 66 

Dept. of Defense 72 4 39 59.8 71 6 17 

llept of the Army 30 0 17 56 46 0 27 

Defense Logistics 8 0 6 75 2 

Army &. Air Force Ex. 0 2 40 7 4 

Dept ()f Air Force 6 2 2 66.6 9 0 

DeP.t .. ?! Agriculture 6 5 100 5 5 0 

* Statistica taken f~ mx: Alnlal Rep)rts 

** It 18 not clear what the tam "nDdify" may enta.U. A.lIDdificati

fact or reject:iDn of _jar 1..- that EBOC found di8crimination 
SEP 11 11m 

The HooonbIe Lme Evaa 

RmkiDJ Democntic Member 

Committee 011 va-' AfIiIin 

House ofRepn:seotltiva 

WISbiqtoo, IX: 20515 

ne.r Coaarasmm £vas: 

11m pleased to rqJly to your 1cUcr, cIatecI AII(pIIt 13, 1997, ~ the Subcommittee 011 

OvcniJbt aDd IDveItiplioas -.ma 001eXUll bIr.--t issues within the nep.tmCIIt of 

va- AfIiIin. 

My rapooses to your questions _ provided in the enclCllure. TbIIIt you for aivinJ me 

the opportunity to respond 011 tbeIe issues. 

SiDc:aely, 
9'1 

I. Mr. Merriman, your office bas hid a chIoce to go badr. to Fayetteville aDd take another 

look at the possibility of additioaal EEO allegations against Mr. Calhoun at those 

locations. I understand that the CbaiJman aDd Members of this Committee do not want 

to get into the details of your findin8S CID this issue during our hearing this morning. 

After having bad the chance to review EEO files, IIld to interview EEO COIDlselors, 

investigators, and officers, what can you tell us about how the EEO process works - or 

doesn't work - at the VA? Dv you think the EEO process needs improving? What 

recommendations would you make to improve the process? 

The EEO process within the VA bas been plagued with continuing perceptions that the 

process lacks indepeDcIenu from local management The c:oncem regarding independence 

is partic:ularIy apparent when EEO allegations involve top level managers at a facility, as 

was the case at the VA MedK:al Center Fayetteville. 

In July 1997, the Acting Sem:tary issued a decision JI8P5 endorsing the recommendatiooI 

of a VA Task Force on the Equal Employment Opportunity Complaint Process aDd 

directed that a detailed implementation plan be presented to him by October I, 1997. The 

Tak Force reoolJlJJleJlded: 

• removing facility directors and heads of Central Office administrations from serving 

as EEO Officers, 

• establishing a complaint resolution stroctun:: linked to the bighest llllllllgement 

level, 

• providing for a staff of experienced, professioaal EEO c:areerists to serve the 

Department, and 

• using aJtemative dispute resolution programs to the maximum extent possible. 

Draft legislation reprding the VA EEO process also proposes to eliminate the current 

practice of assigning the facility Director to act as EEO Officer. 

I wholeheartedly support the cooupt in both of these proposals to remove facility 

managers from the position as EEO Officer. Infusing the process with an additional level 

of independence and professionalism, as recommended in the Tak Force proposal, sbouId 

encourage staff to use the EEO process when circumstances warrant and should foster 

renewed confidence in the process as a whole. Copies of the Decision Paper and the Tak 

Force report an: enclosed. 

2. How many outsblnding allegations of sexual harassment is the Inspector General's 

office presently investigating throughout the VA system. Can you give us an update on 

the status of those investigations? Have there been any new allegations raised at the 

Fayetteville location or elsewhere in the system since our bearin8S in April and July? 

The OIG is presently reviewing three allegations of sexual harassment. Two reviews were 

ongoing at the time of the prior bearin8S, and one review bas been initiated, in part, as a 

result of contacts made during those bearin8S. No new allegations of sexual harassment 

have been received from V AMC Fayetteville. 

The review at Department of Veterans Affilirs Medical Center (VAMC) Grand Island, 

Nebraska, was reported as ongoing in my April 10, 1997 letter to you. This review 

included a complaint against a senior manager for his failure to properly address the 

allegations of sexual harassment. The on-site review bas been completed, and a draft 

report was issued to the Chief Network Officer and otba'Veterans Health Administration 
98 

(VHA) officials on August 13, 1997. We IIIlicipete complcdoo of the review by midOctober. 

An inquiry is underway on alleged aexuaI IIarassmcot IIDCI creation of a hostile work 

enviroomeot by a senior IIIIIIlIIgcr II VA Central Office. The report is beiDa drafted, but 110 

completion date can be projected II this time. 

At the recent hearings, a rqxaentative of the National Asaoc:iatioo of Gowmment 

Employees, Local R3-74, stated that there was widespread sexual harassment at 

V AMC Butler, Peansylvania. AItbouah initial COIltacII with this ic:preseutative fiilled to 

provide any basis for a review, she later c:oatacted us IIDCI RqUCated that an investigator be 

made available on-site regarding alleged aexuaI harassment IIId other EEO issues. We 

visited V AMC Buder and interviewed over 20 employees both II the Medical Center IIDCI 

at an off-site location. We have since conducted additional telephone interviews. The 

review is ongoing, IIDCI it is too early to project a completioo date. 
99 

Report of the Equal 

Employment Opportunity 

Complaint Process Review 

Task Force 

Hershel W. Gober, Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

Eugene A. Brickhouse, Chair 

Neal C. Lawson, Co-Chair 

July 1997 
100 

• DecIsIon Paper 

Report 01 .. EquIiI ErnpIc"rMnt ()ppoItunIty ConI!*Int Proceu RevIew TMk Fona 

Jdtt 1887 

In 1813 .. o.p.1rM!ltatV .... _AfrIIIrI fYA)"""""'. poIIcyat"DlO ..... 'tOI/'for MICUIII.........,. end cIIc:drnNIIon. Howevw, cancerns canIInue to be ,.... r.pnIng 

.. Itn.Ic:IIn at VA', CUIIWIt EquIiI ()ppoItunIty CompIeinII proc:8II, end III effecIMI_ In 

furthering .. goeII at "DIO ~." n.. II. peR:8pCIon thet .. proc:8II doH nat 

function Indepelldently enough atlocel VA ~ and thet IhiI Q/1 rauIt In • canIIct 

atlnterat, apecieIy wtMIn ~ concem .. f8ciIIty diWc:tIOr or top 1taIf. 

I MI CIII11n1IIeed to quick, strang IICIIon to conc:t 1hilIiIu8IIon, end In _ atlhil vaCCIrWW1Id. TMk F_ to IdenIIfy 1CIIuIIone. The cIWge to .. Task Fona _. c:heIIenging 

~ 

_ -,.., eo deyI to _ VA', CUINI1t dIIc:rtmInetIon compIeInt proc8II, 

.. prIIdIcu at other egencIu, end submit ~ to me on ayItiIm 

Impl'ovemellll. The Tuk Fon:Ie commIII8d themMlves ~ to IhiI usIgnn\o!nt. 

Their deIIIereIIoIlI_ dMI1y taken with the lint ~ at employe .. In mind, end In • 

spirit of Improving .. workfon:e environment end encourIIging a c:uIIure of equity within VA. 

The Tuk F_ has IUbmittIId numerous findings end rec:ommend8Iion,lnc:Iuding the 

following: 

• VA fKIIity dIrKtorI end I:IndI of VA Central 0IIice edminIltrdonI end officel IIIUIt be 

outIide the EEO c:ompIeInt proceSI. These offlciell Ihould no longer HIVe al EEO 

0fIIcerI for their organlzetionl. 

• The EEO 0I'IIcer IUpOI'IIibiIIIIIhouId I'IIIt with • regional compIIIInt ruoIutIon /II8I'I8g4II'. 

ThiI poaIIIon IhouId r.port dftdIy to • newly .....,..,.. Deputy AIIimnt Secretary for 

RHOIutIon Menegement, within the office of .. AIIistMt Secretary for Human 

RelOUrCH end Administration. 

• A MW complaint resolution management structure linked directly to the agenc:y's highest 

level II required, _"ed by a cadre of experienced, profellional EEO CllAHlrilliln 

Itrateglclilly located regional otfices .erving an departmental facllitie •. 

• F.cIIIty dIrKtorI end other senior menegeI'I muat maintain relponslblllty for ensuring • 

vigorous effinnetive IICIIon progrem end • "zoro toIeIIInce" culture within th .... 

orgenizetionl. 

• Altemetive Dllpute Resolution prognIms IhouId be used, to the meximum extent 

POISIble. 
DIcIIIan .......... 

~2 

101 

I ............. IdIIIIII. 01 .. Tat Force...,art. ..... IIngIe....,eton naIId 

below. The JIIIICIR ........ .rid .. -. __ • pert 0I1his decIIIon peper. 

E1IceptIotr. The Tat Force r.port __ Ida thet en edcIItIoneI Deputy AuIatant 

s.a.tIry posIIion lie crutId to __ .. work 01 .. MW RelOlutlon MMeo-nent oIIIce. 

11111 would IWUlIn 1lIIIO Deputy AIIIItMt Sea ..... lifting MIPOIIIIbIity for EEO.,.....1n 

VA - _ far OIIInpllllllll 8CIIvIIIIIa .rid ~ far llllliliaicle ectIan func:IIana. 1 r--...... ItI'MmIIned IPIIIMCI'I to .. ~ 1IIdf ..... lingle. high ... oftIcIa'IIP a. ..... for VA'. EEO progran. 11111 wII provide for ..... c:ohnIYe 1uderIhIp • .rid wII ......... 

COlt, eddlllClnllllUppOrt IIIdf .rid CIWIhHd which enoIher Deputy AIIIatent s.a.tIry 

posIIion would.... A IIrnpIer ItrucIure wII eIIo lie ..... undetltandeble for employMl 

.rid ..... functIonIIIln IIIrmI 01 progran inIIIgIatiolL 

The pnICMI ct.Iges which .. Tuk Force __ Ida • .rid which 1 endone ... _.,., 

IInpofIInt IIpect 01 improving VA'. EEO progran. TheIr r.port provIdeI. IOIId rr-k 

for 1MIdng" MW ayIIiIm. ruIIty. All implemelltlilion IMm willie 81teb111hed. with 

memberIhIp fnIm v.nou. diIcIpIMI.rId p8rII 01 VA. Meded. This IMm willie c:t.ged 

to develop • detIIIIIId lrnpIen.-atIon pI8n for .. MW EEO compIeintI procell. including 

IpeciIIca of .. MW OIplizlllloill.t 1trucIure. 

I em eIIo c:heIgIng ~ of .. Tesk Force to __ • en edviIory body NQ8Idng 

lrnpIIImeIation 

enviIOIiIII8I1t, which 

mettera 

.. 

•. 

,..,...1C8d 

The broeder 

In .. 

iII~ 

Tuk 

IUCh 

Force 

• 

r.port.rld 

compIIIint prevention 

which formed 

.rid 

en 

~ 

IneIgr.t 

pert of their .... 11011 .... atIIc3I to our -.II effort to buIcI. model EEO progran • .rid 

willie en importent pert 01 our pIenning effort. 

Work on impillmelllllllon II to begin 1rnrnecIiet8Iy. with compIeIIon of .. detIIIIIId pI8n on .. MW COInplllillII proceuIng ayIIiIm due to me by October 1. 1887. 

JULll1991 

Dete 
102 

e.cuIM aunwn.y 

Repart~ ... EEO ~ PIaoeIe ..... T .. Farce 

........ ~ ... T .. Farce PI"" orpllzlillal ... c::twt ........ new.yam 

"P8rtdng Lot" ..... Iderdied by ... c:ommitt .. 
163 

Cgnt!OtI of 1bt Rtport 

P-ae 

e.cutM &.mm.y 

PrumbIe 1 

Tult Fan:e Approec:h 2 

Cunnt Procua 2 

aellchnwtcillo wIIh Other Agenc::Iu " 

FIndIngs 5 

SeIcuIII H..ument IS 

AddiIiorwI Considerations 7 

RecommendatIonI 7 

lmplemelltation 10 

Conc::IuIion 10 
UN 

.... o.peltlMnlolv.r.../IIWd (VA,) palcrol ........... .... ... ___ cllO_ln"a.r. "'.I,...In1-. ................. to ...... .... ..... o.pe"' ...... In ..... '-.......................... _ .... ..... 

~ ... IIi$, VA __ ..... tlllkfanleol ............. ,_to ... VA· ..... ....... 1l~cTlCltl*tIIIon_I ....... .,....._ ..... _ ........ _~ 

....... fanlelloraughly ,..,... VA'. CUIiW1t EquIiI I:IlIplo'''''"l 0pp0rtunIly 

CompIIIntp&aclU; blinc:hmL"k8d ......... 01-........: ..... -.: _1IIdIi1lCl ....... ....... tar ............. NICIIuIIonp&aclU; .......... 01'1 • ..-.., 

........... lie ..... _VA; and clIO ...... 1m ..... and.... CLdt_ 

............... peacaaa, 

....... ron. ha ....... ruMIOUI r.cammenddanL Among ...... : 

• VA,-, dhc:Icn and .... 01 VA CeI*III 0IIIce adll .......... and oftIcaIliIUIl be 

0UIIIde .. EEO CompIIInt peacaaa, l1iIIIa 011II*II...,. no Iangv ..". • EEO 

0fIIcIIa _ ... Cllgalllzillcwil; 

• The EEO 0ftIcIr ........... 1houId NIl"" ............. IlNlCllullon .......... , 1lIIs paaIIan IhouId r.poIt dRcIIy to • ....., 1111lrI1hed DepulJ AIIIIIant Sea .... , tar 

ReaoIuIIan ~ wIIhn the ofIIce of the AIIIIIant Sea .... , for Human 

R8ICI&RII; • A new 1t!I. __ rnplalllI!IIlMItll NICIIuIIon managemenlltNdLn IInUd dRcIIy to the egency'l highest 

... II e.qund. ....red by • each of expeI1eIlCed, prafeuionIII EEO careerIsIa In 

IIIIItIgicIIf Iocaead regIor1III oftIcaI HnIIng .. ___ .... ,...; 

. F.., dhc:Icn and oe.. ..... m.lI.g .... must IIIIIinIaIn reaponIIIIIty for .... "...". 

PI1'IIlal. deIIgi .... to eradIcaIa barrtIi'I to ernpIofment and achieve • .."....,.... 

WIIfIcforw; and 

• AIImIIIIve DIIpuea RMOIuIIon PI1'IIl". IhouId be UMd, to the .......... eJdInl 

pouIIIa. to ..... ~ at the begII'*1II of the CompIaInt..-, 

AnoIhIr ........ 1daIIon II that an ......... 1IatIan ........ be fanned ImmIcIlllly 

by VA to accampIIsh .... c:ha1ges. Among oe..~. the tIIIk ron. wiI be 

aIced to plan and fonnuIaIa s1rategIu to accampIIsh IhII task; look at Ini'IcMIIMt meIhods of 

OIpllIzIng .... field ItRICtIn; provide .1ImeIIbIa for creaIIng • new ~ and 

..... NCOIIIII'Ien. Ilona onlWtlng. location and COllI. WIIh r.gard to COllI. the task force 

ha /'eCDIiIIMI1ded that the implemallIatIan comrnIIIee be cIinIc:Iad no! to nICCInII'I .. 1d ant 

srstam .... whIch COllI .. gruI8r"" W1der ...... the existing .,...... or. system 

CUIIW1IIt baing propoHd by Congrus. Thecomrnlllee'l work IhouId be completed by 

October 1. 1117. and the field ItNdLn and srstaml develops IhouId be operatiOIl8I by 

October 1, 1 .... 

In 1IddIIIon. the task ron. IdentltIed • number of Issues no! within lis pwvIew. which 

memberI believe must be addresMd. TheM Include changing the cuIILn of the Depatmenl 

and .ddresslllg thelnua of cIscIpIInary ac:IIons for offItldars. They have r.comrnIIldiId that 

thelinpllmlllllllon comrnIIIee develop plans and IimI frwnII for IIddrauIng ......... 
105 

frUmbft 

The goIII of the Department of Vetet'Ma Aff.;d (VA) II to aut. a cUtin wIIhn 

CU' -OIPIlizllllDi.lln which dvwsIly II VIIIuad, and IeXUIII ~Il and dllcrlmilllllon 

.. neIIhar taIenIted nor condoned at any level, W1der any c:In:urnstance. 

In furtharwa of this goIII, the Secretary of Veterans Arran In 1993 InstiIuted a 

-zero kIIeraIa" poley wIIlIWspec:t to MxuaI t.aament and dIIatrnhItion. 

Subl,,'" __ however, have demonItrated that that further action .. needed to 

ac:hIfte the c:uIIuraI change that .. NqUk'ed. 

The Dapartrnent hal acknowledged the need to IUbItantIveIy examine ill 

wortcpIace cullin and environment to ensure that they .. supportive of the zero 

IaIerance poley. One aspect of this effoct .. a thorough nIView of the procesMI 

available to ampIoyeeI who beIeve they have experienced haraIsIng or discriminating 

behavior, and management'l ability to effectively respond. 

Recognizing thilimportant next step, VA's Acting Secretary Hershel W. Gober 

convened a tuk farce of .. nior level employees - labor and I1IIIIIIIg8m8nt 

repI_1IIIIMts - and charged that task force to make certain VA's sexual harassment 

and ~ complaints system provides each VA employee access to a fair, 

eftIcIent equ.I Employment OpportunIty (EEO) complaint process, answerable dirKtIy 

to the depaI1ment's highest executiYe level. 

In esIIIbIiIhIng the task force, the ActIng Secratary reIterat8cI VA's c:ommItment 

to using the most effective and efficient management tedvIIques, including raInvention 

and reet IgineerIng processes; using modem technologies; maximizing employee Input; 

and creaIing output meeslAl which wiD accurately describe VA's progress, and set 

targMs for continuous Improvement. VA wID wor1< In full paI1nership with union 

ntpreHIlIIIIMts In this area, using paI1nership agreements which have been negotiated 

belCh natIanaIIy and locally as a framewortt for dlsaJssions. 

1 
106 

TIIIr forM AppIpaab 

The ..... conducIiId a thcxaugh .... of the CUIIW1t VA EEO ca._It 

pnIOIIa; bellctill*Ud agaInIt oIher,... .... -.: caellidered ...... 11\ .. mocIeIa 

of a new compIaInIa NIOIuIIon pnx:eu; KhInM c:onMnIUS on a proceu they believe 

would be ..... for VA; and clllallMd allmeWble and frwnework for 

lrnpIerneIaIIoIL 

The ~II of .. talk ron::..,. vigorous. T ......... .,. cNIIenged. and _Idea.,. welcome. Evwy effort wa made to __ "out 01 the 

baIIc" I*IIdng. GMn caelltrall_ ~ for Its ..,... effort, the task ron::. has had 

flO ...,art Its phIcMIophy and .. pnaa rwnecIa without their lui _ IlapAIeIll Men 

IPecIIIcI wiI be _lIaped • pm 01 oUr implernellIatIon efforts. 

In adcIIon, the task fan» IdentIIed ~ "pMdng lei(' __ I II ... which 

need flO be ...... NIaIIng to percIP.IIoIli and fIIImea, not cIhc:tIy ,.... to 

relannilg the c:ompI8Int proceu per Ie. (A lit 01 .... Issues II provided .. AppendIx 

3 flO this report) 

The .. ron::. believes that VA InUIt bur the I8sponaIbIIity for rMIdng NqUiIwd 

changes. TNe resolution 01 employee percepIionI oIa WUk and blued cornpIaIIlt 

proceu C8n occur only when cMnges needed flO urn empIoyM. cae .. 1deI1CII and tn.IIt 

.. InItIatId IntemaIy by the Depar1ment. 

1M Cu!T!!lt Prpcul 

The VA EEO COI1IpWInt pnaa Is governed by pertinent ,....., r.guIdons and 

EquIII Employment Opportunity ComrnIaIon (EEOC) ~ apple .. to""" 

agenc:ieI. The EEO progntITI at VA II W1der the cbdIon of the DeputJ AIIIItant 

Sec:reWry for Equal Opportunity who reports flO the AaiImnt s.c:r.tary far Hwnan 

RescxRIII and AdmkliatIation who, In turn, reports flO the Secretary of VeIiInIns Aff*I. 

The ~It proceu begins when a VA employee contacts a facIIty EEO 

CounsIIor. That CcxNeIor II appointed by the 'Idly cbcfiOr who Is the EEO 0fIIcer 

for the fIdly and the cuatodIM of the compIaiIlt process. 

EEO COUI1HIIng II NqUiIwd by VA. an....aal fIrIt..,1n the fedtnI 

campIaInt proceu. Such COUI1HIIng allows an oppcIftWIIty for InfonnaI resoIuIIon oIa 

compIak1t at the IcalIewII. The CounsIIor IhouId be an IInpIIru.I thkd par:ty tr1IIned to 

..". .. a medIafiOrwho .... flO help .. partIeI flO Informally resoIIM the campIaInt 

laue. The compIMIant may rwnIIn .1OI1YftIOUS lit thIs __ • 

Another RIle of the CounsIIor Is flO usIIt pofiIntiII ~ In defining their 

-'legations and giving the Oepartmant nob of pofiIntiII «*ImI. 

2 
107 

The EEO CcxNeIor InIiII views wiIneaes Iftd obIaina documents pertaInkIg to 

the ~na. but IMY raIeue the compIIIinIInt's .,... only If he or she agrees. The 

r.cIIty's All time EEO Mer-aer IMY assist the Counselor, depending on the 

CcM.neIor's ..,eriellcelftd the ~ oIthelssuu Involved. 

Ccu1saIng must conclude wiIhn 30 days 01 the ..,... contacl If It c:ontInues 

longer, the Counselor must Inform the complainant that he or she ha the right to fie a 

fcInrwI compIai It. If an agreement Is not reached during the 3CkIay c:ounsaIing period, 

the EEO CcxNeIor must give the compIak1ant written nob 01 the right to fila a formal 

EEO ~Il within 15 calendar days. Howe-,... the time ImIt for Informal CCU1seIIng 

IMY be ..... Ided wIIh the wriIten agreement 01 the complainant. On recaipt oIa formal 

complaint, the DepMmatIt must advise the complainant that It II requhd to conduct a campIefIa Iftd fair InvastIgatIon wiIhn 180 days. The nob also advIsea the 

campIainant 01 the right to appeal the tInaI decision to the Equal Employment 

Opportunity CommIssIon (EEOC). The facility EEO Manager typically prepares these 

doa.manIa. Iftd they are signed by the fac:IIIty direc:tar as EEO OffIcer. 

The EEO 0fIIcIIr accepts formal complaints and ntfers those believed to be 

procedlnIy dafac:IIve (.tIout 25 penl8nt a year) to the 0fficIt 01 GeIW8I Counsel (GC) 

for legal review. 111at office IMY accept or dismiss the complaint. In whole or In part. If 

any part 01 the complaint Is accepted. the GC advisas the fac:IIIty Iftd requests that the 

0fficIt 01 Equal Opportunity (OEO) DiscriminatIon ComplaInts Service appoint an EEO 

Invastigator to the case. 

The fcInrwI complaint Is investlgatad by a trained EEO investigator from a facility 

outside the location 01 the complaint. VA EEO investigators are either part-time 

c:aIIatenli duty assignees or retired .nnuitants who take swam testimony from 

witnesses and c:oIIect pertinent statistIc:aI and historical data bearing on a complaint 

The investigator analyzes aD the Information that has been gathered and PfOvides a 

Report oIlnvast1gatlon to baCh the complainant and the EEO OffIcer. 

The agency and compIain8nIlMY setIIa the complaint at any point In the EEO 

complaint prOCHS. If a setIIement Is not ruched after the Report oIlnvast1gatlon has 

been receIvad, the compIain8nI may request aiIher a tInaI agency decision from the 

head 01 the agency or designee (In VA. the 0fficIt 01 GeIW8I Counsel) without a 

bearing; or a hearing by an EEOC AdminIs1ratIYe Judge Iftd then a tInaI agency 

decision. An EEOC Adrninistratlve Judge would hold a formal hearing Including aou 

examlnalion 01 wItne ..... Iftd Issue a recommended decision with transaipt and files 

to the 0fficIt 01 GentnI Counsel Which has 80 days to make a final decision. 

If the c:ompIa/nant Is dissatisfied with the agency's tInaI decision. he or she may 

appeal It to the EEOC 0fficIt 01 Federal OperatIons. On receipt of the EEOC appellate 

decision. the complainant, if not satisfied. IMY petition the EEOC for reconsideration. 

though the bases for such reconsideration are quite narrow_ 

3 
108 

Theftrllll .. In the Clll'llpllillil Pf'OCUI Is c:1v118CIian In F.-.. dIIIrIal oaurt. 

The CCII\1IIIIIn8nl ha ",,_ right to file a c:lvll1ICtIon 8gIIinIt the IIGMCY 8I1Y line ..... 180 

d8ya ... paled Iinc8 the filing of a fom'IIII CIII'IIpIIiIIIL Onca In F.-.. cowt, the 

CIII1'Ip/8trII ..... the EEO _ ............ ClllllPlllllIl ayat8m. ........ EEO 

CowIIeIorI or M8nIIgera !1liiy be ak8d flO tutIfy or provide InfonnIIIIan flO ...... 

I8wyers AIPI ... 1III1g .. 8genCy. 

Aa of September 30. 1998, ........ 882 VA EEO CounMIo; s. The C08t of 

III8Int8InIng the enth carnpI8/nt raoIutIon IyatIm - dece .. llaIIDd ccmpI8/nt 

proceuing end centr8IIud ftrIIII decision IMIdng - wa estimatM by VA', 0fIIc:e of 

Equ8I 0pp0rILI1Ily flO be just OYW $21 n.cn In FY 1998. $18.4 n.cn of .... wnount 

wa spent on personnel ccmpensdon; en 8ddIIIor1III $1.7 n.cn wa apellded on 

tr8YeI. 

Owing FY 1998. VA empioyHIlnIIiIIted 8,288 InIonn8I CcxNeIor cont8C:tI; 

2.191 fonMI carnpI8/ntI ... fIed,end ......... 1.578 nv.llpt1ve .............. 

The .".. proceuIng time for a carnpI8/nt In FY 1898 wa 380 d8ya Ina8d of the 

reguI8fIOry 180 d8ya. By ccrnperiIon, the Govwnrnenl-wIde.".. for FY 1995 wa 

305d8ya. 

Benchmarking WIth Othtr Aqenc!u 

In conducting Its 1II18Iysis. the task force ccnsidered ccmparative information 

Clout the EEO Pf'OCUIln other egencieI of the govenvnent. WhIle ~1C8S __ 

ncted In a number of are8l, ..... was no cINr"one best procell.. lhentfore. the 

informetion gathered was used as "benc:hmartcl" for discuslion IIIIIOOg task foR:e 

members. .-

By mcst statistical measures listed in the EEOC's .... Federal Sector Report 

on EEO CompIalnts Processing end Appeals, VA ha an effKIIve end efficient 

program. DespIte OW' lengthy average proc:essiIlg time for ccmpIIIinta, VA ranks IIIIIOOg 

the top third of agencies in timeliness. 

Using the Federal Sector Report on EEO c:ompIe!nts. the task force identified 

ten agencies for a benchmartdng review. Agencies wwe selected for their size. 

organizational complexity, or program perform8nce. They included the U.S. Ail FOR:e: 

the U.S. Army; the Depertments of Justice. HHIth end Humen SeMces. Treasury. 

cOinmerce. end Labor, the SocIal Security Admi .... IIIion: end the NIIIioneIInstilutAts of 

Heeith. 

The factcn identified for this benchmartcIng review wwe developed flO learn how 

other agencies had structured their programs in the following area: 

• The designation of EEO 0IIIcerI: 

• The use of ccDateral duty counselors end !nveItIg8tors: 

• The role of General Counsel In the decislon-maklng process; 

• The effectiveness of actions taken flO address allegations of sexual harassmenl 

4 
109 

~ 

In CCIM'at lit most 01 the CIIIWF ..... 11( 1Cies sIudIed, VA', dIaQ~I" I.a n proceaa Is largely decenllllllmd flO field • .c:iIIIes 8M IndIviduIII wodt unIIa. 

The EEO OffIcer deIIgnatIan In most 01 the oI1er F ..... egencIea AIdIed Ie"'" lit a __ ol'g~illzalkwl8l1eve1 0UIIIde openltloll8l .... 0I8U1horily. 

WhIle oe.. ~ utIIze coIaterW duty, part-time poaiIIons lit C8IIy out EEO 

Counselor 8I1d.1nYutIgator rules, In 1IImoat ........... those poaiIIons rwport IInugh 

a complaint management IIrucIunt outside operational rn.nagement linea 01 auIhorily. 

For example, wvery bureau in the Department of the TfUlUry has Its own EEO 0IIIcer. 

The AIIIItark Secretary for M8Mgement 8I1d Chief ~ 0IIIcer...".. .. the 

EEO OffIcer for the Department. The authority to nwnage the complaint proceaa has 

been ~ flO the DIrector, 0I'IIce 01 Equal 0pp0r1unIty ~ 

An additional difference that was noted II the Involvement of VA's 0tIic:a 01 

GenetaI Counsel In the proceu. ThIs was not found flO be the cue In most agenc:Iea 

reviewed. 

M ~ reportM Int8reat In 8fId IUCCUI with ~ dispute moIutIon 

(AOR) pragrama flO .. solve c:ompI8IntIlocaIIy at the urtIeIt phase 01 the .. lOIutIon 

proc8II. L.-ge organizations. such .. the PoataI Service. the 0ep8rtment of the Army 

8fId the oap.tment 01 Labor. noted the IUCCUI of their reapec:tlve ADR programs In 

reICIIving compIaInta e8I1y 8I1d InfonnaUy. The Merit System ProtKtIon Board (MSP8) 

voiced strong support for ADR. noting that half of its appeal cases ate .elUed informally 

before going flO hearings. 

In addition flO benchmaridng with other federal agencies. the task force solicited 

the YiewI 01 representatives of the EEOC and the MSPB. In the views of those 

..,....matIveI. the major problem.of VA's program is the perception of its employees 

and others on the way It works. EEOC's representative agreed that removing EEO 

complaint proceuing acIIvIties from line management control could begin to change 

this percepCIcr .. 

MaPS noted the irnportaIa of employees beleving that someone has listened 

flO their compIaInta and that e climate of objec:tIvity exIatI. TheIr .. presentative also 

noted the Importance 01 quickly and forcefully dealing with individuals who violate VA's 

EEO It8ndarda and prac:tk:es. The organization also strongly supported alternative 

dispute resolution procedures. 

Findings 

In the cxuse 01 preparing this report, the task force conducted a thorough 

analysis 01 pest studies. currant practices and criticism of the current VA EEO 

compIaInta procell. Infonnation developed in benchmarking with other federal 

agencies was .., discussed. From this Wonnatlon and analysis. the task force 

developed the following findings: 

5 
no 

_ A CIa 5 5 5nt proceu wIIhaut c:redIIIIy cannot .. 1CIOMd. EI • .,.. percepIaI. 

IIbouIthe c:ompI8Int proceu .. alia! to .. IUCCeU. Yo.tclrea the pelcepIIcwI 

..... -.....: c:Mnge.1ft c:arnpWInt PAl c •••• 1iIUIl be 1ICCOn .... 1Ied by **-

which ~ to empIoyeu that aAni ~ wiI.., OCCU'. 

_ 11me IIIUIt be a drIvinG fon:e. BulkIng ne'''' Iysfiems end ItI'UdureI tllkes time, 

must 

but the 

be 

pnIb5ems 

'1WIft end 

.... 

.... end 

c:hIInges 

comrnunIc8ted 

.. deIigI_ 

c:Ie8rIy 

to 1OIYe 

to emp5oyeea. 

.. CUIW1l 1rnmedI8te....,. ~ 

must be tIIken to cammunIc:ate VA's COI1l'lIltnllll'lt and Intent to c:h8nge • process, 

end tolUjlpClft ~ proc:eaI with the WdershIp, policy and management IICIIon 

IIgnaIIng a new atIItude and aAn wItin the department. 

_ AiIIIrnathM c55ajK.U rHOiutIon programs haw proven their value In rao5vIng 

c:onIIIct quIc:5dy at :ow... ieYeIs of NSponsIbDlty. They can be effedlvely 

lrUgialild Into the VA EEO complaint program, end a plot program now being 

t8sted should be COIIIidered far __ iInpIemeIltalIoIL 

_ 1be designation of heads of operational field units as EEO OIrIc:er has been 

pen:eMd by some employees as skewing what should be I fllr and Impartial 

proc:eu In favor of local management 

_ The initial workpllce contact point In the procen, the EEO Counselor, Is 

crucial to the effectIvene .. Ind credibility of the process. The sensitivity and 

level of training of EEO Counselors, the time available to them for this task and the 

support of their supervisors In large part detennlne the program's effac:tiveness end 

the level of employee confidence in the process. 

_ A heavy reliance on collateral, part-time positions to handle EEO Counselor, 

specialist and investigator roles hurts the proce .. because of the conftict it 

causes In time and work priorilles and the IWSUItIng high turnover. 

_ Cost Is a crucial factor. Any changes must be thoroughly costed and considered 

In light of.1mIted department resources. 

_ The VA OftIce of General Counsel has developed subject matter expertise as 

VA's decision making luthorlty and demonstrated consistenUy high quality In its 

decisions. 

Sexull Hlrassment 

The task fon:a further understands that organIzatl9nal changes alone will not 

solve the problem of sexual harassment within the department It is clear that unique 

management IWsponaibll"lties exist regarding incidents of sexual harassment that .. 

not present In other discrimination claims, for example In protection of potential vic:IImI. 

A federal employee who alleges sexual t.usment Is entitled by law to a 

prompt and effective response by management officials, regWess of whether the 

empIo;,88 chooses to usa the EEO complaint proc:eaI. Mllnag ment's responsibility Is 

6 
111 

to respond inmediately and effectively to allegations of sexual harassment VA should 

continue its efforts to ensure that the laws regarding sexual harassment in the VA 

wortcpIaca are properly enfon:ed. 

Additional Considerations 

The task force noted that several pOlicies and practices instituted by the 

Department since 1993 should improve existing remedies for sexual harassment and 

disaimination in the VA workplace. These include establishing a tOI'-free hoUine for 

EEO complaints, and further publicizing information on the existing toll-free hoUine for 

the Office of the Inspector General; and the continued use of a Central Office Rapid 

Response Team, a group of well-trained management officials sent to review 

allegations of sexual misconduct by senior level officials. 

In addition, the task force was aO'fised of considerable advances and successes 

in VA in effectively using AOR techniques. These techniques can provide significant 

assistance in speeding up the resolution of many cases, and reducing the worldoad of 

EEO Counselors. AOR has been used successfully by a number of other federal 

agencies, and the use of AOR in resolving disputes is among VA's specific 

performance goals in its strategiC plan. 

Recommendations 

Qverview 

The task force concluded that VA must create a process perceived as objective, 

fair and effective by employees, managers, and extemal stakeholders. In dOing so, it is 

necessary that system impediments (real or perceived) that result In management 

manipulation of the process be removed. 

Further, the processes and the general environment should encourage 

resolution" of concems and complaints as earty as possible and at the lowest level of 

the organizatiOn, appropriate to the particular employee matter. 

To do ail of these things, the task force acknowledged the critical importance of 

seeking ways to instin, as a cultural value, a WO/1( environment free of haraSsing and 

discriminatory behavior; a wolf( environment that encourages employee respect of each 

other, and of the diversity represented in VA's culturally rich wolf(force. 

Communications 

The Task Force found that increased communication is needed with employees 

- at ail levels - with respect to aU aspects of departmental policies and practices 

associated with efforts to ensure the workplace is free of harassing and discriminating 

behaviors. Necessary and appropriate action can be taken l.iuring the implementation 

pha:-e to improve communications. 

7 
112 

Rapjd Response Team 

-SInce • repeated conc:em on the part of aD stakeholders is the abil"rty of the 

department to respond quiddy. efl'idently. and appropriately (In ... ntspeds) 10 

allegations against senior officials, the task force strongly supported the Rapid 

Response Team concept. 

Use of. Central Office Rapid Response Team should be taken to the next 

level, In that It would be designed to ensunt rapidity and would Include aU types of 

representatives who would be prepared to addntss aU aspects of the allegation, 

including those not d1rad1y associated with the EEO complaint process. 

Faclljty Director and EEO Manager 

The vast majority of line managers in VA ant individuals of integrity, high 

standards and commitment to the mission of the Department However, in oraer to 

ensure the fullest possible lew! of employee trust in the EEO complaints system, the 

task force believes that VA facility directors and heads of VA Central Office 

administrations and offices must be outside the EEO complaint process. VA needs a 

new complaint ntSOIution management structure linked diredly to the agency's highest 

executive level. The heart of this new structure will be a cadre of experienced, 

professional EEO managers and careerists staffing strategically located regional offices 

which serve all departmental facdibes. 

Line managers must maintain responsibility for a comprehensive and continuing 

affirmative program deSigned to eradicate barriers to employment. and to achieve a 

representative wortdorce with. special emphasis on women, minorities, people with 

disabilities and disabled veterans. 

LIne managers are responsible for "setting the tone" of zero tolerance for sexual 

harassment at their fadlity. A new complaint process will not relieve them of their 

continuing EEO obligations, which are still a part of their performance agreements and 

standards. Those obligations indude vigorous implementation of affirmative action and 

special emphasis programs and EEO reporting. The fad/ily directors will continue to 

have the ability to settle most local complaints, other than those in which their personal 

behavior is at issue. 

The task force recommends that current EEO managers be retained, under a 

new position description and a new title, to assist the director in fulfilling these 

Obligations. In addition, the need for them to provide support to EEO Counselors, 

investigators, EEOC Administrative Judges, and Department of Justice and Regional 

Counsels in litigation matters-and training and affirmative employment program duties-

-should be suffident to warrant retention of these as full-time positions. 

Clear guidance and open communications with line officials and others must be 

provided as roles and responsibilities are more fully defined in the Implementation 

process. 

8 
113 

'The EEO 0ftIcIr deIigndan Mel lis inc:u1ItMn complaint III8Mg4IIMnt and 

sup8Mscx,! rasponsHtIes wi! rm with. regional campfaInt ~ rMnagef. 1Na 

poIiIan .. riIport cIIredI'f to • newI'f established Deput'f AaIItanI Seailtlii,! for 

Resolution Management, within the office of the Assistant s.cratary for Human 

Resoun:es and Administration. (A proposed organization chart Is attached a, AppencIiIc 

2.) . 

'The staff of ead1 regional c.rtice will consist of EEO Counselors, investigators, 

EEO spec:iaIIsts ancI support personnel. They wi! handle the EEO complaint process 

independent of facility management lines of authority. They will not be part of or linked 

with 8n'f facility or office other than their own Central OffIce superstructure. They wiD 

be diradly accessible by any VA employee within their region. This emphasizes the 

'one VA' aspect of this program. 

To maintain maximum efficiency, regional offices would have the lIexibiIity to 

use a variety of employment options - fun time, part time, or out-based. Statrll1g for 

these organizations would be based on multi-functional teams of employees trained to 

perfonn in mont than one functional area. 

Employee access would ba maintained by locating regional offices in areas of 

highest EEO activity, using 'ciraJit riding' Counselors, and applying communications 

technology. In appropriate ciraJmstances, regional offices may use alternatives such 

as teleconferencing to ensure access to counseling. 

In addition, coIateral duty EEO Counselors could be used to enhance employee 

access at some facilities. The EEO work of these facility staff members would be 

directly supervised by the Regional Office of Resolution Management The facility 

director may nominate employees for these positions; however, selection will be made 

by regional EEO managers. 

The heaclquarten component of the process would be managed in the new 

office of the Deputy ASSistant Se<:n!tary for Resolution Management. reporting to the 

Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration. 

Summary 

The process model descnbed above was selected after careful study of five 

possible structures. Only this approach addresses aU the findings identified by the task 

force. Specifically: 

• It meets the requirement for cost accountability, by requiring that costs are no more 

than under the prasent system. 

• It replaces heavy reliance on collateral duty eEO Counselors appointed and 

managed under the supervision of the facility director with a cadre of permanently 

employed professionals whose background, training and career motivation are 

based on efficient and quality processing of disaiminatiion complaints. 

9 
114 

• The key position of EEO OffIcer, responsible for unblasect management and 

stewanIshIp of the complaint process, is moved from Ina management to an independent regional otlica manager responsible to the DAS for Resolution 

ManagerMnl 

it ensures management of the complaint process at a top executive level and 

isolates that single function within the Secretary's headquarters management staff. 

Implementation 

In order to accompUsh the process changes outlined above, an implementation 

committee will be formed by VA to: 

• plan and formulate strategies to accomplish this task; 

• look at innovative methods of organizing this new field structure; 

• make recommendations on staffing, location and costs, ensuring that costs of the 

proposed resolution management process not exceed those of the current system; 

• identify the funding mechanism; 

• consider how productivity will be measured in the new organization (using 

guidelines developed under the Govemment Performance and Results Act); 

• provide a timetable for creating this new organization; 

• incorporate use of Altemalive Dispute Resolution programs to resolve complainls at 

the beginning of the complaint process; 

• assure a comprehensive training program supporting these recommendations is 

planned covering aU VA employees - lop officials, senior managers, new full-time 

EEO Counselors and other resolution management employees - down through the 

VA workforce; and 

• develop plans and time frames for addressing the culture change issues identified 

in the "parking lot" 

The task force beHaves .\hat the committee should complete its woltt by October 

1, 1997. It further beieves that the timetable established by the committee should 

insure that the field structure and system it develops should be operational by October 

1, 1998. The committee should ensure that Its cost estimates for operations of the new 

organization do not exceed the amount expended in the previous fiscal year for 

maintaining the existing complaint resolution system. 

Conclusion 

The task force views this report as a living document that will change in 

response to the needs of VA's dynamic and diverse WOfkfon:a. VA is committed to 

continually in1pn)ving its performance in reducing the incidence of sexual harassment 

and disaiminatlon among its employees, and in ensuring that complaints are resolved 

quickly and efficiently, with a fuU recognition of the righls of an involved. VA's own administrative Changes, caretuUy rroOnitored by CongAISS and other stakeholders, 

provide the ftexibility needed to respond to changing needs. Continued analysis and 

adjustment will be part of the new sistem. 

10 
115 

Appendk1 
116 

EEO CompIMIt Pnx:ea R8vIew 

T .. k Fon:e Members 

Eugene A. Bdc:IchaI-. 

.......... Sec:r-.y for tturn.n 

Resources end AdnWliatliIIkid (008) 

Tak Force a.Ir 

Joyce E. Felder 

AaocIaW o.puty AuIatMt s.a.ry for 

tturn.n Resources MaMgernn (05) 

Office of ~ Resowc:es end Admi1IstratIon 

Ar1IU'GoIf 

Chief, EEOt'CIvII Rights Poley Tum (1e3A) 

V ..... HuIh Aclniliaillkid 

Patrk:III Grysawge 

DncIar, ~ .... .-gemeIIi .. CornmunIc:IItIo (2OA1) 

V ..... BenefIts AcIn* lIIfIallui , 
117 

o.IIIdK. ..... 

o.puty AI 111"f~ Sea ... , for EquII ()ppartIdf (08) 

0ftIce 011 HumwI Raources and AdrnlnllUtion 

Almal.ee 

PNaIdent, NdoMI V ..... Aw.IrI CouncI, AFGE 

C. F.,NomId 

onaor, VARO Wuhklgton 

V.....,. BenefIts Ac:ImInIatratio 

P8Iricia J. O'Neil 

Special AssIstant 

0I'IIc:e 011 PolIcy and Planning (008) 

LamIine Payton 

PnIIIdent, VA Caunc:I, NFFE 

JoMph H. Sctunacher 

e.citIYe AaIatant, IRM (0451) 

0I'IIc:e of MalIageII'Ient 
EveNIl ChaMn (03) 

RecanIIdWtIIr 

0IIIce of Adill ........... 

Chriaapher 

~ 

J. Scheer (800) 

0IIIce of P\Mc AIfIh 

Suzanne L ~ (03) 

Admilistlalive Support 

0IIIce of Admnisllation 

118 

Support Team 
119 

Appendix 2 

Proposed organizational chart 

under the new system 
120 

Secretuy of V ....... Affabs 

Dlputys-tary 

AIIUIud~far 

a-a-udAd ........ 1iaa 

I OAS for Raalatioll M.a._lilt I 

~ofRaolution Mlaapmellt 

Din!c:tIw (DesipBi EEO Officer for Region) 

Coun.ioa 

InwIIIiptaa 

SpeciIIists 

Support Staff 

I FldHtiesl 
121 

Appendix 3 

·Partdng Let" isIuas identilad 

by the committee 
122 

"Paridng Lot" Issues 

Throughout our m.tigalkln and deIibeIatioI .. the Task Force encountenId a runber 

at __ willett ... nac ~ wiIhft .. puMew at reformitlllthe EEO CCII'I1pIMwI 

process, but which needed to be add! as ad tfVA'. system were to c:hmge suftIcientfy. 

A subcommittee of the proposed Implementation Group or some subsequent group 

must be tasked with developing these further. They may be summarized as follows: 

• Investigator UUity to recommend action beyond EEO c:ompIaInt 

Pn!sentIy EEO CounIeIcn have no ability to f1ICOI'MIeflCI any action beyond an 

EEO complaint.. Too often the "ball hils been dropped" between inItIaIlndicaIDra 

ata prdIIem and eenIor In81I8g8m8nt e«orts to deal wIIh It. If EEO lnvestigatDca 

were able to propose or recornm8Ild OCher actionS, perhaps this process could 

be made more timely and effective. 

• Disciplinary actions for otlltndera 

The ... at ~ for offeIldera is perhaps the single most important 

... which should be adcIn lied outside reformilg the EEO campIai1t 

pre ! II' Ig system itself. A number of individuals felt that the "okt boy system" 

so1'nlquenlty referred to was not so much one which protected males who 

engaged In sexual harassment as it was one of not being able or willing to 

discipline senior management officials, whatever the nature of their offense. In 

fact, there are times when VA appears to be engaging in consequences Which 

amomt to "move and park." That is, moving disciplinary problems and parking 

them somewhere, rather than actively dealing with them. There was anecdotal 

cfisalSSion of this in management disciplinary problems beyond that of sexual 

harassment. 

Behavior can be shaped by positive reinforcers and by negative consequences; 

both of these need to be swift and swe in order to be effective. 

• Culture 

VA does not need merely to change a bureaucratic proQ8SS, we need to change 

our c:uIt1n. VA has made great strtdes in teaching aD our employees about what 

is, and Is not. sexual harassment. VA needs to do a better job In communicating 

to senior management ofIIciaIs and those who are on career trac:IcB to become 

IUCh oftIdaIa what the behaioral expectations are In their roIee. There will 

certU1Iy be • major "part In this for the new VA Leaming UniverIiI:y. but the 

senior most cadre of oftIciaIs today. _ well _ political appointees, must be 

active. VA needs to share expectations about what behaviora .., undesirable 

and spedfy what behaviors are exemplary. The department must demonstrate 

an ablity to "take care of the troops" - because it is those employeeswho care 

for veteram. 
123 

• IIaIdng COII ..... ...at feel whole 

ThIa ....... til the ... d CIIII1MqIIeIIC8 for off elide .... EvM if a campIa/nIn 

I'eCIIIvw an 88IIigI.1 .... pranlatial .. or lOme action deIigneci to maIut them 

whale. thliyhquenllydo natlllll whole .... .., obsemJ that .... ·affeI..--

has 8UfJenKf no 0DRI8qU8I'IC8. 

• Frivolouacompa.Jnts 

The system must pennIt employees who have been hInaed or aggrieved to fie 

their complaint wIIhout COlt or .... d nIIIIUion. Vet mIIIhDda InUIt be 

dev Iloped which would put lOIII8 degree d ....... ..., on •• ijJIc;yeM who fie 

frtwIoua campIIiInta. espec:Idy If they .. hquant. If the .,.an ........ burdened by .uch oom,118l1l"' ...... time and energy could be _plllded on 

IhoII8 which dealt with I8rioua problema. 

• Dealing with IncnIae In CCIIIIIMInt acIIvIty 

Any dwIgea In the EEO COIIIplaiIt proC11 ling ayII8m I11UIl be a two-pI'aIlQ8d 

atI8Ck: (1) the curent system must be ... Igi..-ed til be men eCfIIctive end 

efIIdIInt and (2) methodI, IUCh .. ADR end IIw!dalillll. I'I1JIIt be purwed In .. 

effort to JINWIIl compIaIrIl acIIvIty. Such pnNei .... iI nat an e8aIt til frnIaII 

.1.."....· tIIng a COIllplailtlhoy .... a. need; ..... VIIIUd have the ...... 

d preveI dill.., the llII!t to fie. 

• IIarMdng the new proceu 

In adcIIIon til wortcing with the admi .... adIaiI .. end aIaff oCIIces til naket the new 

EEO camplalnt procea, VA must Infonn .npioyees about the procea that wII 

be earning on tx.rd and ...... inlpKtwll be. VA needI to focuI nat on a. 

negJiIHe apec:tII that led the tdepWnent to dIMIIap 8UCt'I a .,.an. but the 

poIIIIve outcome that has rasuIted, that iI •• IIICII'IIt.Ir and objec:tIve system far 

".i,,*,~" 

• AIIIIm8Ia ..... ___ far ...... who..., nattlUllttbe..-

No ...... how eft'ec::IIve _jab the EEO ComplaInt PI'aa&Ja ~ Tak Force 

... thenI wII be ernpIayeeI who do nat truJIt the praoeaa. VA neadI to 

canllnuethe ... d ....... ~ To .... 1UCIh _MaYS indude ... d 

the IG HoCIIne. the EEO blDmlJllian HaIIIne. tIIng CIII11iAI*Ila wIIh VHA Network 

DhcIDra, eIIC. M8ny empIa~ tadar .. ..-. dthe ....... PIIhwaYS 

thIil .. aIr8IIdy open til than. VA .. otIae d PWIc NfIIh 8hcUd be aII8d to 

"-In martcecInIJ curnnllyexilllng ...... ~ til" empIo,.-. 

o 

7f11117 
ISBN 0-16-056267-8 

9 80160 562679