3.0.0 1243 2023-01-11T13:49:16Z 2023-01-11T13:49:16Z Senate S 2021-04-20 117 ssva00 Veterans' Affairs Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2021-04-20T21:01:44Z Improving VA Accountability To Prevent Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Act of 2021 117 2704 HR 2021-05-19 Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Related bill CRS 2021-04-20 ssva00 Veterans' Affairs Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. IntroReferral 2021-04-20 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress E000295 Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] Joni Ernst R IA N H001076 Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH] Maggie Hassan D NH 2021-04-20 True Armed Forces and National Security Alternative dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration Assault and harassment offenses Congressional oversight Department of Veterans Affairs Employment and training programs Employment discrimination and employee rights Executive agency funding and structure Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management Sex offenses Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination Armed Forces and National Security 00 2021-04-20 Introduced in Senate 2022-03-04T11:02:09Z Improving VA Accountability To Prevent Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Act of 2021

This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to implement various policies and procedures related to sexual harassment, other harassment, and employment discrimination.

The bill requires the VA to ensure that

  • the official who serves as the VA's Equal Employment Opportunity Director reports directly to the Deputy Secretary and does not also serve in a position that has responsibility over personnel functions or functions that conflict with the equal employment functions,
  • each Equal Employment Opportunity program manager at the facility level reports to the head of the Office of Resolution Management (ORM) with respect to equal employment functions, and
  • the employment discrimination complaint resolution system requires any VA manager who receives a harassment or employment discrimination complaint to report such complaint to the ORM immediately (or within two days of receiving the complaint if immediate reporting is impracticable).

The VA must provide employees with mandatory annual training on identifying and addressing sexual harassment, other harassment, and employment discrimination, including with respect to processes under the VA's Harassment Prevention Program.

The VA must regularly review the policies relating to sexual harassment, other harassment, and employment discrimination to ensure its policies are complete and in accordance with the policies established by the ORM. Additionally, the VA must issue a final directive and handbook for its Harassment Prevention Program.

]]> Improving VA Accountability To Prevent Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Act of 2021 Display Title Improving VA Accountability To Prevent Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Act of 2021 Official Title as Introduced A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the equal employment opportunity functions of Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Short Title(s) as Introduced Improving VA Accountability To Prevent Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Act of 2021 Introduced in Senate IS Introduced in Senate 2021-04-20T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-117s1243is/xml/BILLS-117s1243is.xml 2021-04-20 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.