Should the VA Have More than 40 Full-Time Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Counselors? (H.R. 2788)

What is H.R. 2788?

(Updated January 30, 2022)

This bill, the VA Equal Employment Opportunity Counselor Modernization Act, would eliminate the cap on the number of full-time employees at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) who provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) counseling and dispute resolution services. At present, the VA is prohibited from employing more than 40 counselors for this purpose.

Argument in favor

The Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) doesn’t have enough equal employment opportunity (EEO) counseling and dispute resolution counselors to meet the needs of its 40,000-plus employees. Allowing the VA to hire more EEO counselors would expand the agency’s ability to address formal and informal discrimination complaints.

Argument opposed

Finding ways to maximize the VA’s 38 existing EEO counselors and to reduce the need for EEO counselors’ services should come before adding headcount to the agency’s EEO counselor workforce. Alternatively, the VA already has the authority to have two more EEO counselors without Congressional approval, so it should do that first before looking to Congress to expand its allowable number of EEO counselors.

Impact

The Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA); EEO counselors at the VA; and the cap on EEO counselors at the VA.

Cost of H.R. 2788

The CBO estimates that this bill would cost $26 million over the 2021-2026 period.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA) introduced this bill to allow the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) to increase the number of employees at the agency providing equal employment opportunity (EEO) counseling and dispute resolution services.

Currently, the VA has 38 EEO counselors for a workforce of over 40,000 employees. This number of counselors is overwhelmed by the number of formal and informal complaints that they receive each year: in 2020, VA employees filed over 2,800 formal equal employment opportunity complaints, and the department resolved just over half of them.

Of Note: Businesses, government agencies, and other entities are prohibited from discriminating against job applicants or employees based on the person’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information.

EEO counselors at VA are responsible for reviewing complaints that may be related to such discrimination. Counselors support aggrieved parties and facilitate dispute resolution between affected parties, generally before formal complaints are filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency charged with enforcing federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination.

Media:

• CBO Cost Estimate
  
• Federal News Network