Reorganization of the Office of Equal Opportunity Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 12:20:58 -0400 To: "USGS Employees" From: Ruby Nweke Subject: Reorganization of the Office of Equal Opportunity MEMORANDUM To: All U.S. Geological Survey Employees From: S. Kaye Cook Chief, Office of Equal Opportunity Subject: Reorganization of the Office of Equal Opportunity The Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) has been reorganized with all equal opportunity functions being centralized in the Headquarters Office, Reston, Virginia. The Central and Western Region Equal Opportunity offices were closed effective July 2. The role of the OEO continues to evolve from a focus predominanently on discrimination complaints into a broader, more proactive advocacy for workforce diversity, and zero tolerance for discrimination, harassment, hostile work environment, and reprisal. The U.S. Geological Survey's goals for ensuring diversity in recruitment, retention, employee development; enhancing the quality-of-work life; and educating managers, supervisors, and employees regarding equal opportunity and diversity, have increasingly strained the ability of the OEO to accomplish its mission. The current configuration does not effectively utilize the resources allocated to the Equal Opportunity (EO) program. With this reorganization, the consolidation of the positions will create the critical mass needed to provide, bureau wide, the most depth within the functions, the most latitude in responding to the program's growing responsibilities. This change is intended to enable the OEO to better respond to the many demands placed on the EO program from within the bureau, as well as from the Department and other external customers. Any questions or concerns regarding equal opportunity issues, including requests for counseling or training, briefings on diversity accomplishments, assistance with accommodations for employees with disabilities, etc., should be directed to the EO Office in Reston at 703-648-7770. To assist you in directing your calls and questions, the following list of points of contact is provided: Diversity/Affirmative Employment Plan Patty Hagan - X7761 EO Counseling Fred Gonzalez or Judith Turk -X7770 Complaints in the Formal Stage Sherian Scott Jackson - X7770 Special Emphasis Alexandra Chavez Hadley - X7764 Disability and Civil Rights Patty Hagan or Tanya Cantrell - X7761 Affirmative Employment Statistics Wilma Lowery - X7765 We look forward to this new direction for the EO program and expect these changes will enable the OEO to better serve you in the future.