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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
Public Health Service Food and Drug Administration
Rockville MD 20857
MEMORANDUM
February 10, 2009
FROM: Commissioner of Food and Drugs
SUBJECT: EEO, Diversity and Whistleblower
Protection Policy Statement
TO: FDA Employees
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is committed
to ensuring equal employment opportunity (EEO) and
promoting workforce diversity to maintain a strong,
effective, high performing public service
organization. This has never been more important
than in this time, when our agency is undergoing
remarkable transformational changes. I strongly
support and vigorously enforce all applicable
Federal EEO laws, regulations, Executive Orders, and
management directives to ensure that all our highly
talented employees are afforded an equal opportunity
for success in the workplace and every protection
under the law to ensure the integrity of our mission
here at the FDA. These important laws include Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act of 1975; the Equal
Pay Act of 1963; and the Whistleblower Protection
Act of 1989. FDA will not tolerate discrimination
or harassment on the bases of race, color, religion,
national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age,
disability, or retaliation for opposing
discriminatory practices and/or participating in the
discrimination complaint process. This applies to
all personnel practices and terms and conditions of
employment, including recruitment, hiring,
promotions, transfers, reassignments, training,
career development, benefits, and separation. In
addition, FDA will provide reasonable accommodation
to qualified individuals with disabilities and for
religious practices, as provided by the applicable
laws and procedures.
The EEO Complaint Process
To enforce this policy, I have empowered FDA's
Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity
Management (OEEODM) to administer an impartial and
effective complaint management process to address
and resolve complaints of discrimination at the
earliest possible stage. Employees may report
allegations of discrimination to OEEODM, at 301-827
-4840, their immediate supervisor, another
management official, their collective bargaining
unit, or the Employee and Labor Relations unit in
the Rockville Human Resources Center (RHRC) as
appropriate. Please note that under 29 Code of
Federal Regulations, Part 1614, employees who wish
to go through the EEO Complaint process must report
such allegations to OEEODM within 45 calendar days
of the date of the alleged incident in order for the
complaint to be investigated.
Harassment
As the Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs, I am
firmly committed to ensuring that all FDA's
employees, applicants, contract employees, clients,
customers, and anyone doing business with FDA are
not subject to discrimination. Harassment is a form
of prohibited discrimination and is not tolerated.
The following defines what constitutes harassment.
Harassment is any unwelcome, hostile, or offensive
conduct taken on the basis of race, color, religion,
national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, or
disability that interferes with an individual's
performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or
offensive environment.
Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination
that involves unwelcome sexual advances, requests
for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical
conduct Of a sexual nature when: (1) submission to
or rejection of such conduct is made either
explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of
one's employment, or (2) submission to or rejection
of such conduct by a person is used as a basis for
career or employment decisions affecting that
person, or (3) such conduct interferes with an
individual's performance or creates an intimidating,
hostile or offensive environment.
I ensure all FDA employees that allegations of
discrimination and harassment, including sexual and
non-sexual, will be taken seriously by agency
managers and will be immediately addressed.
Appropriate corrective action--up to and including
termination--will be taken if allegations are
substantiated.
Reporting Harassment
Both supervisors and employees bear responsibility
to maintain a work environment free from
discrimination and harassment. Employees must not
engage in harassing conduct and should report such
conduct to their supervisor, another management
official, their collective bargaining unit; Employee
and Labor Relations office, and/or OEEODM, as
appropriate. The recipient of such harassment claims
will ensure the confidentiality of the individual
making the claim to the greatest extent possible. If
an employee brings an issue of harassment to a
supervisor's attention, the supervisor must promptly
investigate the matter in a thorough and impartial
manner, share the outcome of such inquiries with the
affected parties, and take appropriate and effective
corrective action, as necessary. Supervisors are
encouraged to seek guidance from OEEODM when
addressing issues of discrimination or harassment.
[2] Both employees and supervisors should resolve
such issues at the earliest stage and I encourage
their participation in the alternative dispute
resolution services provided by OEEODM's Conflict
Prevention and Resolution Program. In addition, it
is every supervisor's responsibility to inform
his/her staff of this policy and to ensure that
discrimination and workplace harassment of any type
will not be tolerated.
Whistleblower Protection
Employees are entitled to all the protection
afforded under the Whistleblower Protection Act,
which prohibits retaliation against public employees
or applicants for employment who report official
wrongdoing. In an effort to protect the integrity
and high standards of the scientific and attendant
processes that guide this agency, in accordance with
applicable interpretations, FDA supports the rights
of all employees to engage in protected activity
under civil rights statutes, Executive Orders and
whistleblower protection laws. The U.S. Office of
Special Counsel is empowered to administer an
impartial and effective complaint management process
to address complaints of whistleblower retaliation
for most of the Executive Branch, including the
FDA. Reprisal against individuals for disclosure of
information, in which the employee believes evidence
is a reasonable violation of any law, rule or
regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of
funds; abuse of authority; or a substantial and
specific danger to public health or safety will not
be tolerated. Reprisal for whistleblowing includes
taking or failing to take, or threatening to take or
failing to take, a personnel action with respect to
any employee because of a protected disclosure of
information. Employees may report allegations of
reprisal for whistleblowing to the Office of the
Special Counsel.
Protection from Retaliation
Retaliation against individuals for opposition to
discrimination or participation in the
discrimination complaint process is unlawful and
will not be tolerated. This includes complainants,
witnesses, and others who provide information
concerning such claims. We will work aggressively to
protect employees from reprisal for participation in
such protected activity, including the reporting of
waste, fraud, and abuse in government practices.
Training
I am hereby notifying all employees of their rights
to these fundamental protections pursuant to the
aforementioned Federal EEO laws and the Notification
and Federal Employee Anti-discrimination and
Retaliation (No FEAR) Act of 2002. Under the Final
Rule of this statute, all FDA employees were
required to take No FEAR training on or before
December 17, 2006, and thereafter every other year
and within ninety (90) days from the date of their
initial hire. This training is currently being
offered by the HHS University on-line, available at
the HHS learning portal. More information and
training on these statutes are available to all
employees on the EEO and Diversity website on the
FDA intranet. In addition to this training, OEEODM
provides Mandatory EEO Compliance Training for
Managers and Supervisors. This training educates
supervisory employees on their legal
responsibilities in the EEO area and promotes early
conflict resolution. This training is mandatory for
all management and supervisory personnel. In any
event, retaliation against individuals for
opposition to discrimination or participation in the
discrimination complaint process or as a
whistleblower is unlawful and will not be
tolerated.
Towards the Future
To ensure a discrimination-free workplace where all
individuals are valued, we will not limit ourselves
to the requirements of the law but will proactively
cultivate an inclusive work environment that values
human diversity in all its aspects. To become a high
performing science based, science driven, public
agency in the 21st century, we must tap into the
rich resources of the global community in which we
live and recruit, while simultaneously retaining and
developing an inclusive workforce that reflects the
pluralistic society we serve.
It continues to be both an economic and moral
imperative. I am convinced that the unique
attributes of each employee offers incalculable
benefits to our organization. Therefore, I am
committed to creating an environment within FDA that
is free of barriers to full participation, values
diversity of perspectives, and empowers every
individual to contribute to the mission of the
agency. To this end, employees are encouraged to
report any gross misconduct, waste or abuse, with
the assurance that we support every good faith
effort that seeks to preserve the moral solvency of
our agency. Moreover, each of us bears the
responsibility to ensure that discrimination in the
workplace is not tolerated and that diversity is
valued. Supervisors and managers serve as agents of
FDA and bear a special responsibility to ensure that
the work environment is free from discrimination and
harassment. Promoting the complementary principles
of equity and diversity in the workplace is a
pivotal element in building a strong FDA. FDA
remains committed to these principles as it pursues
its critical mission of protecting and promoting
America’s health.
This memorandum supersedes the Memorandum from the Commissioner of Food and Drugs dated July 16, 2007to all FDA employees.
/s/
Frank M. Torti, MD, MPH, FACP
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