Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed allegations of discriminatory hiring and promotion practices against Hispanics by the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) region VIII, located in Denver.
GAO found that: (1) the region's employment representation of Hispanics was 10.3 percent with Indian Health Service (IHS) staff excluded and 6.0 percent with IHS staff included; (2) those rates exceeded the regional civilian labor force rate of 5.5 percent for Hispanics for the 4 fiscal years reviewed; (3) few of the region's operating divisions were required to participate in preparing affirmative employment plans and reports, since they had fewer than 500 employees; (4) the region generally processed competitive vacancy announcements in accordance with federal policies and procedures; (5) Hispanic applicants fared well in the competitive selection process; and (6) HHS complied with federal administrative processing requirements for formal discrimination complaints filed between 1980 and 1989.
