VA Failing to Report Key Equal Employment Opportunity Stat: GAO

Equal employment opportunity counselors are a critical piece of the federal workforce, informing workers of their rights under equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws and helping employees file a complaint if needed.

Now the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is being chided for not being transparent enough on its EEO workforce.

Under federal law, the VA is required to estimate how many VA employees whose duties include EEO counseling it needs per full time employee, and report that ratio to Congress.

However, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the VA failed to report the ratios as required under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.

GAO conducted the audit from December 2023 through July 2024 and found the VA to be in noncompliance with the Congressional directive.  

VA Response

VA responded to GAO’s investigation, saying the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) did not publish a recommended ratio. EEOC stated that it’s up to the agency to provide sufficient resources for their EEO programs.

VA also said that “determining the number of needed counselors is challenging because it will fluctuate based on several factors including changes in employee complaint activity.”

VA eventually published the number of ratio of counselors it has to full-time employees (1:7,043), but still failed to publish an estimate of the number needed to better serve the workforce.

GAO made one recommendation, telling the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that the agency “develops and uses a sound methodology to estimate how many EEO counselors it needs to manage its EEO program efficiently and successfully and report this information to Congress.”

GAO also urged VA to work with EEOC to determine the best method to develop such an estimate.

VA agreed with the recommendation.