MEMORANDUM

ICN: 353-75-2588

Date:

December 19, 2003 Refer

Refer To: S7E

To:	See Below
From:	Reginald F. Wells /s/ RFW Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources
Subject:	Implementation of the Settlement Agreement in the Black Male Class Complaint --INFORMATION

The purpose of this memorandum is to update you on the Agency’s implementation of the terms of the settlement agreement in the Black Male Class Complaint and to seek your continued support in implementing specific aspects of the agreement.

As most of you know, the complaint was filed in 1996 alleging intentional discrimination, in the Agency’s headquarters offices in Baltimore, Maryland, on the bases of race and sex from 1987 forward with regard to promotions, training, awards, and disciplinary actions. The parties entered into a settlement agreement on January 11, 2002 and the agreement took effect on April 7, 2003.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Administrative Judge who approved the settlement agreement retains jurisdiction over the agreement for 4 years from the effective date to monitor and ensure compliance with the agreement. As defined in the settlement agreement, SSA headquarters includes SSA components located in Woodlawn, Metro West and Security West. Specifically excluded from the definition of SSA headquarters are any components of the Philadelphia Regional Office and the Office of Hearings and Appeals in Falls Church, Virginia.

I want to use this opportunity to highlight certain areas of the settlement agreement that will impact the Agency over the next 4 years. In addition, the attachment provides a summary of the terms of the settlement agreement and the action we have taken to implement those terms.

ADDRESSEES:

All Deputy Commissioners

General Counsel

Chief Actuary

Inspector General

Chief Information Officer

Chief Strategic Officer

Establishment of an Oversight Committee

The settlement agreement establishes an Oversight Committee compromised of both management and class representatives. The primary task of the Oversight Committee is to monitor the implementation of the settlement agreement. The Oversight Committee will also review data provided by the Agency to monitor trends in the Agency’s personnel policies and practices. The Oversight Committee began meeting in August.

Monitoring of Promotion Assessment Panels for Competitive Selections at SSA Headquarters

Another function of the Oversight Committee is to designate a pool of employee volunteers to serve as non-voting monitors for promotion assessment panels.

The role of the non-voting monitor is to ensure that assessment panels comply with relevant merit promotion guidelines and EEO principles during the rating and ranking of applicants. The monitors will not express opinions concerning the assessment panel’s rankings of individuals. If the monitor believes violations of either EEO or merit promotion principles occurred during the rating and ranking process, the monitor will report the violations to the Oversight Committee.

Management may limit the amount of time any particular employee volunteer serves as a monitor based on workload considerations or if it finds that a particular employee has abused the opportunity to participate in the process.

The Oversight Committee has already identified a cadre of potential volunteers to serve as monitors. We will provide training on the merit promotion process and EEO principles for these volunteers in mid-January. Once they complete the training, they will be eligible to serve as monitors for assessment panels. However, all employees must have supervisory approval before they can serve as monitors. We will work with your Executive Officers to advise you of the employees in your component who have volunteered to serve as monitors and will provide detailed guidance concerning the procedures governing their participation in the process.

Training and Development

As required in the settlement agreement, we have advised all class members who are current Agency employees of their opportunity to create, in conjunction with their supervisors, an Individual Development Plan (IDP). Any IDP must adhere to the guidance contained in the Agency’s Administrative Instructions Manual System and applicable bargaining agreements.

The settlement agreement also provides that any class member who has a request for training denied during the time the Administrative Judge retains jurisdiction over this complaint may, within 15 days of learning that his training request was denied, ask the supervisor of the manager who denied the request for training to investigate the denial of the training request. Please ensure that your managers and supervisors are aware of this requirement under the settlement agreement. The class member may also report the denial of his request for training, and the Agency’s response, if any, to the Oversight Committee.

Finally, as we implement the terms of the settlement agreement, we remain committed to fair and equal treatment in the workplace for all of our employees. I am confident that with your continued support we will continue to be a model employer that builds and maintains a diverse and highly qualified workforce that maximizes the talents of each person to achieve sound business results.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Staff questions may be directed to

Mark Anderson at extension 53318.

Attachment

cc:

Commissioner of Social Security

Deputy Commissioner

Chief of Staff

Counselor to the Commissioner

Senior Executive Officer

Attachment

Settlement of the Black Male Class Complaint

Provisions of the Settlement Agreement	Action Taken
Monetary Relief. Agency pays $1.4 million in attorneys’ fees.	Completed. The Agency paid all attorneys’ fees in August 2003.
Monetary Relief. Agency provides a lump sum of $6.35 million for class members. The Agency will disperse money according to a formula developed by class counsel.	Partially Completed. The Agency is assisting class counsel in locating class members. In order to expedite payment, SSA agreed to make initial payments to class members, equal to approximately one-half of each class member’s total payment. Those payments were made in September and October 2003. The remaining payments will be made after efforts are exhausted to locate about 200 additional class members.
Oversight Committee. The parties will establish an Oversight Committee of seven members. The Oversight Committee will monitor the implementation of the Settlement Agreement. They will review data provided by the Agency to monitor trends in the Agency’s personnel policies and practices. The Oversight Committee shall remain in existence for 4 years.	Completed. The Agency and class counsel established the Oversight Committee in August 2003. Class counsel named four employees and the Agency named three employees to the committee. The Oversight Committee began meeting in August and has held bi-monthly meetings.
Monitoring of Assessment Panels. The Oversight Committee will designate a pool of employee volunteers, to be trained by the Agency, to serve as non-voting monitors for promotion assessment panels.	In Progress. The Oversight Committee recently identified a pool of employee volunteers to serve as non-voting monitors for assessment panels. The Office of Personnel and the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity (OCREO) will provide training for the monitors in mid-January.
Awards. The Agency will review and correct any misapplications of its policies for granting performance awards (PA) and quality step increases (QSI) to ensure fair and equitable distribution of such awards and report to the Administrative Judge on the actions taken to comply with this provision.	Completed. The Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources (DCHR), Assistant DCHR, Associate Commissioner (AC) and Deputy AC for OCREO met with the Deputy Commissioners (DC) to discuss the Agency policies to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of PAs and QSIs. On November 10, 2003, the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) issued a report to the Administrative Judge on the Agency’s evaluation of its awards processes.

Provisions of the Settlement Agreement	Action Taken
Individual Development Plans (IDP). The Agency will notify class members who are current employees of their opportunity to create IDPs in accordance with Agency policy.	Completed. The DCHR recently issued the annual training notice, which included advice to all employees on creating IDPs. Class counsel and the Oversight Committee agreed that the annual notice satisfies the notice requirement to class members of their opportunities to create IDPs.
Disciplinary Actions. Proposed disciplinary action against a class member will be provided to class counsel, contingent upon the class members’ consent. Class counsel can only recommend further review of the proposed action. The proposed action may not be effected sooner than 30 days after notification to class counsel.	Completed. The Office of Labor Management and Employees Relations has incorporated this requirement in its procedures for preparing disciplinary actions involving Black males in headquarters components.
Reports for Oversight Committee. The Agency will provide the Oversight Committee with quarterly demographic data for headquarters components for the following personnel actions: promotions, monetary awards, training classes attended and disciplinary actions.	In Progress. OCREO and OGC are working with the Oversight Committee to determine the type of demographic data and reporting formats the Agency will provide to the committee so that it can fulfill its monitoring role.
Meetings with Commissioner. Beginning 90 days after the effective date, the Oversight Committee will meet with the Commissioner or her designee on a quarterly basis. The Commissioner will make reasonable efforts to personally attend two of the first four quarterly meetings and at least one meeting each subsequent year.	Action Required. The Agency and Oversight Committee are working together to determine a date for the meeting.