5/23/2013   1:52 am

Human Rights Council (170)

Mission Statement

The mission of the Human Rights Council (HRC) is to promote and preserve the human rights of individuals in the Commonwealth by raising the awareness of human rights, accepting complaints, and providing conflict resolution and mediation for the resolution of complaints.

Vision Statement

We envision HRC as a nationally recognized equal employment opportunity and customer services agency that promotes fairness and equity when resolving complaints; is highly regarded for producing outstanding educational and outreach opportunities that prevent discrimination; uses strategic planning and technical training to provide the highest quality investigations and the protection of procedural and substantive due process rights; is trusted to exhibit the highest standard of competency in all aspects of its work and relationships; empowers and treats employees with fairness and respect creating a workplace that is customer driven and employee focused.

Service Performance and Productivity

• Summary of current service performance
  HRC measures its service performance through performance measures and reporting requirements tied to goals and objectives.
  
  HRC's first goal is to administer and enforce the Human Rights Act thoroughly, impartially, and in a timely manner.
  
  ~ The agency's first objective under this goal is to eliminate a backlog of cases that are in the intake and investigatory stages. HRC measures this activity based on the number of complaints received and processed for intake within 45 days of receipt. A backlog is determined during the investigative stage if a case is two years old from the date it was accepted. In 2006, the Council received a total of 287 complaints for review. In 2005, the Council received a total of 287 cases to process. This number of complaints received decreased by 87.5 percent. The current service performance level dictates that a complaint should be accepted, referred, or administratively closed within 45 days.
  
  ~ The second objective is to process cases for investigation within one year of acceptance. HRC's ideal closure rate is to investigate a case within six months. In order to maintain the current federal contract and increase the number of federal cases that are closed, the Council works to close four federal cases per month.
• Summary of current productivity
  The number of cases that HRC receives and processes continues to increase. HRC has increased its services by providing mediations, training, public forums, and on-site investigations to a larger number of customers during the past two years. The number of citizens and businesses that have called HRC requesting assistance has also increased during the past two years. HRC has continued to add services to its outreach program to include internship programs. The Council serves any resident or group within the Commonwealth that needs assistance regarding discrimination.
  
  ~ The agency continues to provide services using alternative methods to provide these services. Having an investigative staff of 1.5 makes it challenging for HRC to meet its goals and objectives. 1.5 investigators jeopardizes the federal contract by limiting the amount of federally generated revenue HRC can recoup from investigating federal cases.
  
  ~ In the future, HRC will continue to utilize its college internship program. This program brings 3rd and 4th year college students in to assist with the processing of cases. Additionally, HRC will continue to identify partnerships that will provide staff with training, additional resources, and information about best practices.

Initiatives, Rankings and Customer Trends

• Summary of Major Initiatives and Related Progress
  The 2006 Board Retreat was successful. The Retreat provided members of the Council an opportunity to plan strategic initiatives and goals as a body for the years of 2006 - 2007. Additionally, it also provided members to plan long range goals that the Board wanted to accomplish. The Council in conjunction with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) participated in the Feria de la Opportunidad (A Day of Opportunity * Something for Everyone) which was sponsored by the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. This outreach effort supported EEOC's national chairman's vision of creating partnerships for the purpose of eliminating discrimination. HRC will continue to build upon the partnerships that were created as a result of this forum.
• Summary of Virginia's Ranking
  N/A
• Summary of Customer Trends and Coverage
  The Council is the only state agency that offers mediation and conciliation services to citizens that file employment complaints against private sector employers within the Commonwealth. HRC's mediation program is a voluntary program which began in 1995. Since its inception, eighty-five percent of the cases that have been mediated have been resolved. The mediation process has become a valuable tool used throughout the country to decrease the amount of time that it takes to investigate a case. HRC will continue to encourage complainants and respondents to take advantage of the mediation process.
  
  The Council will provide and analysis of the impact that the aging of the population will have on our ability to deliver services and how we will respond to these changes.

Future Direction, Expectations, and Priorities

• Summary of Future Direction and Expectations
  HRC will continue to identify best practices and utilize the strategies identified in these best practices to resolve complaints in a more efficient manner. HRC will contact similarly situated agencies for the purpose of obtaining information about their intake and investigation processes.
• Summary of Potential Impediments to Achievement
  HRC has a limited staff and for this reason, will continue to utilize the Council's college internship program, as well as, the City of Richmond's and Friends Association for Children Youth Workforce program to meet the goals established by the agency.

Statutory Authority

The Virginia Council on Human Rights Act Chapter 39 empowers the Council to receive and investigate complaints of unlawful discriminatory practices based on race, religion, sex, age, national origin, sex, pregnancey, childbirth or related medical conditions in places of public accomodation, including educational institutions, and employment.

Customers

Anticipated Changes To Agency Customer Base

The administration's focus on creating healthy Virginians means that citizens will live healthier, happier, and longer lives. For this reason, we anticipate a larger number of older workers seeking the services of CHR. The aging population may seek assistance from the Council if they feel that they have been discriminted against on the basis of their age. The agency will continue to receive and investigate unlawful discirmination complaints on the basis of age.

The Human Rights Council designated Timothy Wilson as the employee to review the agency's policies and program decisions impact on senior citizens and adults with disabilities. Mr. Wilson will also serve as the liaison for the Virginia Department for the Aging.

Partners

Products and Services

• Description of the Agency's Products and/or Services:
  HRC investigates, mediates, conciliates and resolves discrimination complaints.
  
  Customer Assistance
  The Council assists people who live and work in Virginia and any individual who is involved in causes of action originating in Virginia. The Council serves citizens by answering telephone inquiries, accepting and processing complaints, referring citizens to appropriate services, investigating complaints and mediating and conciliating cases.
  
  Technical Assistance
  The Council provides technical assistance by helpting to create and organize local human rights commissions. The Council serves as a liaison to local human rights commissions during the General Assembly session and tracks relevant legislation that has the potential to impact equal employment opportunities in Virginia.
  
  Outreach
  The agency serves public interest groups and the general public by making presentations and participating in local community discussions regarding discrimination
• Factors Impacting Agency Products and/or Services:
  N/A
• Anticipated Changes in Products or Services:
  N/A

Finance

• Financial Overview:
  HRC's funding comes from general funds (92%) and federal funds (8%)
• Financial Breakdown:

  	FY 2011			FY 2012
  	General Fund	Nongeneral Fund		General Fund	Nongeneral Fund
  Base Budget	$463,125	$0		$489,325	$0
  Change To Base	$0	$26,200		$0	$0
  Agency Total	$463,125	$26,200		$489,325	$0

  This financial summary is computed from information entered in the service area plans.

Human Resources

• Overview
  As of July 1, 2010, the Virginia Human Rights Council has an authorized FTE level of five. The office is located in Richmond and HRC uses the role codes with three employees falling within the Human Resource Manager I category. Staff members work primarily in the office, but occasionally, if the need arises, will telecommute.
• Human Resource Levels

  Effective Date	9/1/2009
  Total Authorized Position level	5
  Vacant Positions	0
  Current Employment Level	5.0
  Non-Classified (Filled)	0
  Full-Time Classified (Filled)	0		breakout of Current Employment Level
  Part-Time Classified (Filled)	0
  Faculty (Filled)	0
  Wage	0
  Contract Employees	0
  Total Human Resource Level	5.0		= Current Employment Level + Wage and Contract Employees

• Factors Impacting HR
  The Council's FTE increased by two very needed investigators. Prior to the increase, the Council employed 1.5 investigators to carry out the mission of the agency throughout the entire Commonwealth. Virginia is a Fair Employment Practices Agency (FEPA) that has a contract with EEOC stipulating that it must close 60 federal cases within the federal fiscal year. HRC's contract with the federal government was upwardly modified last year. However, HRC's ranks in the bottom tier of state FEPAs and has one of the smallest number of contracted cases in the nation.
  
  CHR's one investigator's caseload has tremendously increased from a manageable caseload of about 60 to 100 cases. The Council would benefit from having two more staff investigators. Additional investigators result in more cases being investigated in an efficient manner resulting in additional federal funding for the agency. The Council will strive to continue producing the best product for the citizens of the Commonwealth with limited resources.
• Anticipated HR Changes
  [Nothing entered]

Information Technology

• Current Operational IT Investments:
  HRC's staff members have the necessary IT equipment to meet the ageny's goals and objectives.
• Factors Impacting the Current IT:
  N/A
• Proposed IT Solutions:
  N/A
• Current IT Services:

  Estimated Ongoing Operations and Maintenance Costs for Existing IT Investments

  	Cost - Year 1		Cost - Year 2
  	General Fund	Non-general Fund	General Fund	Non-general Fund
  Projected Service Fees	$10,023	$1,318	$10,174	$1,338
  Changes (+/-) to VITA Infrastructure	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Estimated VITA Infrastructure	$10,023	$1,318	$10,174	$1,338
  Specialized Infrastructure	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Agency IT Staff	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Non-agency IT Staff	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Other Application Costs	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Agency IT Current Services	$10,023	$1,318	$10,174	$1,338

  Comments:
  [Nothing entered]
• Proposed IT Investments

  Estimated Costs for Projects and New IT Investments

  	Cost - Year 1		Cost - Year 2
  	General Fund	Non-general Fund	General Fund	Non-general Fund
  Major IT Projects	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Non-major IT Projects	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Agency-level IT Projects	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Major Stand Alone IT Procurements	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Non-major Stand Alone IT Procurements	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Total Proposed IT Investments	$0	$0	$0	$0

• Projected Total IT Budget

  	Cost - Year 1		Cost - Year 2
  	General Fund	Non-general Fund	General Fund	Non-general Fund
  Current IT Services	$10,023	$1,318	$10,174	$1,338
  Proposed IT Investments	$0	$0	$0	$0
  Total	$10,023	$1,318	$10,174	$1,338

Appendix A - Agency's information technology investment detail maintained in VITA's ProSight system.

Capital

• Current State of Capital Investments:
  N/A
• Factors Impacting Capital Investments:
  N/A
• Capital Investments Alignment:
  N/A

Goal 1

The best way to combat discrimination in the Commonwealth is to prevent it from happening in the first place. We will work to proactively prevent discrimination by providing information and solutions to members of the public that will help them identify and solve problems before they escalate. We will seek to obtain best practices and reports that encourage learning and understanding among employers and employees. We will also introduce new and enhance our existing outreach activities, such as: the brown bag lunch series, human rights day forum, information dissemination through public radio and television, and strengthening our partnerships and strategic alliances to strengthen efforts and build support. We will work to promote healthy workplace practices and provide information to managers in an effort to find the "cure" for discrimination.

• Engage and inform citizens to ensure we serve their interests.

Goal 2

Providing quality services that are fair, prompt, and cost effective, is vital to the HRC's mission. We will ensure that our work is consistent, accurate and timely. The HRC will evaluate and improve every stage of HRC's charge processes and will collaborate with federal and other state agencies in our effort to make the state complaint process more efficient. HRC will also introduce new performance techniques to streamline procedures, while enhancing the integrity of our processes.

• Engage and inform citizens to ensure we serve their interests.

Goal 3

Promoting and expanding mediation/ADR is a major focus for HRC. Our mediation/ADR program has demonstrated that disputes can be settled timely, amicably and cost-effectively through ADR techniques.We will continue to review the pool of private sector charges eligible for mediation and offer mediation at various stages of the private sector charge process. HRC will also expand the use of ADR in our program by continuing to explore new and different ADR methods and identifying ADR methods that prove more efficient and cost effective.

• Engage and inform citizens to ensure we serve their interests.

Goal 4

The administration's focus on efficiency and effectiveness provides the roadmap for HRC's goal of establishing HRC as a model worksite. The implementation of the agency's strategic plan and other administration and agency initiatives will help build a model workplace where we can effectively and efficiently accomplish our goals in an environment conducive to good employment practices. The very principles and standards we promote to employers should be apparent in our own operations. To achieve our goals, we will build an organization committed to providing opportunities for HRC employees to grow professionally. We will accomplish this through occupational and leadership development, performance management programs, the use of enabling technologies and a flexible, adaptable work environment that is conducive to teamwork. We will build a model workplace with programs and practices worthy of emulation.

• Be recognized as the best-managed state in the nation.

Goal 5

We will strengthen the culture of preparedness across state agencies, their employees and customers. This goal ensures compliabce with federal and state regulations, policies and procedures for Commonwealth preparedness, in collaboration with the Govornor's Cabinet, the Commonwealth Preparedness Working Group, the Department of Planning and Budget and the Council on Virginia's Future. The goal supports achievement of the Commonwealth's statewide goal of protecting the public's safety adn security, ensuring a fair and effective system of justice and providing a prepared response to emergencies and disasters of all knds.

• We will strengthen the culture of preparedness across state agencies, their employees and customers.
  Objective Strategies

  • We will be prepared to act in the interst of the citizens of the Commonwealth and its infrastructure during emergency situations by actively planning and training both as an agency and as individuals.

  Link to State Strategy

  • nothing linked
• We will ensure that resources are used efficiently and programs are managed effectively, and in a manner consistent with applicable state and federal requirements.
  Link to State Strategy

  • nothing linked

  Objective Measures

  • Percent of scorecard categories marked as "Meets Expectations" for the agency.
    Measure Class:

    Other

    Measure Type:

    Outcome

    Measure Frequency:

    Quarterly

    Preferred Trend:

    Maintain

    Measure Baseline Value:

    100

    Date:

    7/1/2007

    Measure Baseline Description: The 2007 score of HRC.

    Measure Target Value:

    100

    Date:

    7/1/2010

    Measure Target Description: 100 percent by 07/01/2010

    Data Source and Calculation: The Management Scorecard grades agencies on six criteria. Take the number of cases where HRC scored "Meets Expectiations" and divide by six.

Goal 6

The Council will ensure that resources are used efficiently and programs are managed effectively, and in a manner consistent with applicable state and federal requirements.

5/23/2013   1:52 am

Human Rights Council (170)

Compliance and Enforcement (170 704 14)

Implement and enforce the Virginia Human Rights Act, Chapter 39 that safeguards individuals in the Commonwealth from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, age, national origin and disability.

HRC receives and investigates complaints, seeks resolution through conciliation, refers non-jurisdictional concerns to other agencies, holds hearings pursuant to the Virginia Administrative Process Act, and makes findings and recommendations based upon complaints alleging discrimination.

Compliance and enforcement are divided into three activities, intake, investigation, and mediation.

During the intake process, complaints are analyzed, and based on the analysis are either accepted for investigation or denied.

During the investigative process, witnesses are interviewed and affidavits are prepared. The respondent's position statement is analyzed; the complainant's rebuttal letter is prepared; and a thorough review is conducted to provide a "Reasonable Cause" or "No Reasonable Cause" determination. If a Reasonable Cause is issued on a case, conciliation is offered. If the conciliation fails, the case is sent to a Public Hearing.

Mediation allows the complainants and respondents to quickly resolve and settle the matter without going through a lengthy investigation.

The FEPA contract with the EEOC was formalized in 1994 through a work share agreement. As a result, the Council was designated as a Fair Employment Practices Agency (FEPA). This designation allows the Council to act as an agent of the EEOC and receive, dual filed, and investigate cases that fall within federal statutes.

The contract is executed through investigations, substantial weight reviews, outreach activities, contract modifications, annual training sessions, and with the aid of a federal data tracking system.

The investigation process is outlined above. The substantial weight review occurs when EEOC conducts a review of cases investigated to determine whether or not the investigation meets the contract requirements of a thorough case analysis provided by the agency and comparative data obtained from each case. The Integrated Mission System is maintained by the Council for the purpose of updating contract cases on EEOC's system and submitting monthly and quarterly reports. Outreach activities are conducted for the purpose of informing citizens about the partnership between HRC and EEOC. Each FEPA, in partnership with its EEOC District office is required to conduct at least two outreach initiatives during the contract year. Contract modification is the process by which HRC and EEOC determine whether an upward or downward modification to the contract is warranted. FEPAs are required to participate in annual training sessions where legal updates are taught and contract changes are discussed.

• Factors Impacting the Products and/or Services:
  [Nothing entered]
• Anticipated Changes to the Products and/or Services
  [Nothing entered]
• Listing of Products and/or Services
  • Customer Assistance The Council assists people who live and work in Virginia and any individual who is involved in causes of action originating in Virginia. The Council serves citizens by answering telephone inquiries, accepting and processing complaints, referring citizens to appropriate services, investigating complaints and mediating and conciliating cases. Technical Assistance The Council provides technical assistance by helpting to create and organize local human rights commissions. The Council serves as a liaison to local human rights commissions during the General Assembly session and tracks relevant legislation that has the potential to impact equal employment opportunities in Virginia. Outreach The agency serves public interest groups and the general public by making presentations and participating in local community discussions regarding discrimination.

• Process timely, complaint questionnaire forms received in the office.
  Objective Description
  The Council will process complaints received from the public within 45 days of the time the complaint is filed in our office.
  Link to State Strategy
  • nothing linked
  Objective Measures
  • The number of days it takes to process complaints received from the public after the complaint is filed in our office.
    Measure Class:

    Agency Key

    Measure Type:

    Outcome

    Measure Frequency:

    Quarterly

    Preferred Trend:

    Down

    Measure Baseline Value:

    45

    Date:

    7/1/2007

    Measure Baseline Description: 45

    Measure Target Value:

    35

    Date:

    7/1/2012

    Measure Target Description: 35 days by 07/01/2010.The 35 day measure was instituted January 2008.

    Data Source and Calculation: Average processing rate of 35 days or less. Compare the number of complaints processed within the 35 day window. Average processing rate was 60 days.

  • Hours spent screening complaint questionnaires.
    Measure Class:

    Productivity

    Measure Frequency:

    Quarterly

    Preferred Trend:

    Maintain

    Measure Baseline Value:

    100

    Date:

    10/1/2008

    Measure Baseline Description:

    Measure Target Value:

    85

    Date:

    10/1/2009

    Measure Target Description:

    Data Source and Calculation: Percentage of work time spent on processing complaint questionaaires (# of hours spent on processing questionnaires divided by total number of hours worked) x 100

• Reduce the timeframe it takes to investigate a case.
  Objective Description
  The Council will investigate cases that are accepted within one year of acceptance. This reduces the timeframe it takes this office to investigate a case.
  Link to State Strategy
  • nothing linked
  Objective Measures
  • Investigation resolution timeframe of cases.
    Measure Class:

    Agency Key

    Measure Type:

    Outcome

    Measure Frequency:

    Quarterly

    Preferred Trend:

    Maintain

    Measure Baseline Value:

    100

    Date:

    Measure Baseline Description: 100 percent

    Measure Target Value:

    80

    Date:

    7/1/2012

    Measure Target Description: 80 percent of cases closed in one year by 07/01/2012.

    Data Source and Calculation: Compare the date the case was assigned to an investigator to the date the investigator close the cases.

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