Federal Personnel

The EEO Implications of Reductions-In-Force Gao ID: T-GGD-94-87 February 1, 1994

In a recent review of reductions-in-force (RIF) at three Defense Department installations, GAO discovered that the RIFs caused a disproportionate number of women and minorities to lose their jobs. In some cases, this was because women and minorities lacked the tenure, veterans' preference, or performance-adjusted seniority of nonminorities or men. In other cases, minorities held a large number of the jobs being abolished and they lacked assignment rights to other positions. Continuing RIFs may undermine the gains made by women and minorities in the workforce, particularly at the mid and higher levels. On the other hand, downsizing alternatives that encourage voluntary retirements and resignations may prompt larger numbers of white males to leave on their own initiative, a trend that could improve the overall diversity of the smaller workforce. This was the case during GAO's own recent workforce reduction, which included a special cash separation incentive.



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