[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 76 (Thursday, June 16, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
 LEGISLATION TO REQUIRE THE ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL TO ESTABLISH AND 
                 MAINTAIN A PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 15, 1994

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce a bill to require the 
Architect of the Capitol [AOC or the Architect] to establish and 
maintain a personnel management system with modern personnel management 
principles. This bill establishes a personnel management system, 
provides a procedure for its implementation, and establishes a 
procedure to process discrimination complaints.
  This bill is another important step in assuring that employees of the 
House and Senate have the same employment rights as other Americans. 
The AOC presents a particularly egregious example not only of an 
absence of most employee rights but of a personnel system that deserves 
the same as well.
  The AOC, a legislative branch agency, is responsible for the 
structural, mechanical, and domestic care of the U.S. Senate and House 
buildings, Senate restaurants, Library of Congress buildings, Supreme 
Court building, the U.S. Capitol Building and Grounds, and the Capitol 
Power Plant. As of March of 1993, the AOC employed a staff of 
approximately 2,233 full-time employees. Since the AOC is a legislative 
branch agency, it is not subject to the provisions of many personnel 
statutes that guide personnel policy for other Federal agencies. At the 
request of Senator Barbara Mikulski, a member of the Senate Committee 
on Rules and Administration and its chair Senator Wendell Ford, GAO 
investigated personnel policies at the AOC and published its findings 
in April of this year. GAO found that the personnel system lacked 
consistent hiring and promotion practices, had no affirmative action 
program, was devoid of a performance appraisal system, failed to offer 
minimal skills-training opportunities, lacked a job classification 
system, exhibited deplorable underrepresentation among minorities and 
women in higher paying skilled and managerial positions, and had 
limited communication between management and the workforce.
  This bill requires that systems to address these shortcomings be 
employed with standards and practices of modern personnel management 
practiced by other Federal and private sector organizations.
  Today, three separate offices handle EEO complaints. The Senate 
Office of Fair Employment Practices handles complaints for all Senate 
employees and AOC employees who service buildings on the Senate side. 
The House Office of Fair Employment Practices handles complaints of all 
House employees but not AOC employees who work in House buildings. The 
Architect's Fair Employment Practices Office handles complaints of AOC 
employees who work in both the House and Senate buildings. Thus, while 
Senate AOC employees may file complaints with both the Senate Office of 
Fair Employment Practices and the Architect's Fair Employment Practices 
Office, the House AOC employees may only file complaints with the 
Architect's Fair Employment Practices Office. The Architect's Fair 
Employment Practices Office mediates and recommends resolutions. 
However, the Architect, against whom complaints are filed, makes the 
final decisions regarding each complaint.
  After a final decision is made by the Ethics Committee, AOC Senate 
employees may appeal. AOC employees assigned to House buildings are not 
afforded the opportunity to appeal a hearing decision. AOC employees 
assigned to the Senate are allowed judicial review of final 
administrative decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal 
circuit; House employees do not enjoy this privilege.
  This bill will allow all AOC employees to file charges with an 
independent agency, the General Accounting Office Personnel Appeals 
Board. The GAO personnel office was selected in order to avoid the cost 
and time consuming effort it would take to create a structure for a new 
independent office, and because the GAO already has some oversight over 
AOC employees.
  This bill addresses the needs and concerns of employees in a fair 
manner in keeping with modern personnel management practices. The House 
has an urgent responsibility to address the abhorrent practices 
documented by the GAO. These deficiencies, present in the place where 
we work, deprive employees who directly serve Members with dedication. 
This session of Congress must not close without action on a problem of 
special urgency not merely close to home, but in this House and in the 
Senate.

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