EEOC Management Directive 715 Report

Management Directive 715 (MD-715) is the policy guidance that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provides to federal agencies, including the Department of State, for use in establishing and maintaining effective programs of equal employment opportunity under Section 717 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehabilitation Act), as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 791 et seq. MD-715 provides a roadmap for creating effective equal employment opportunity (EEO) programs for all federal employees as required by Title VII and the Rehabilitation Act. MD-715 took effect on October 1, 2003. A copy of MD-715 and the Instructions are available on the EEOC’s web site . Every year, the Department responds to the EEOC’s MD-715 in the form of a report. PARTs A-J comprise the report.

PARTS A, B, and C:

PARTS A through C require the Department to provide basic information, including the total number of employees and the officials responsible for the oversight of the EEO programs.

PART D:

PART D.1 requires agencies and sub-components to identify all units (i.e., regions, field installations, etc.) that are included in the subject report. The Department does not have reporting components for the purposes of this report.

PART D.2 requires agencies to verify that the mandatory supporting documents have been included in the MD-715 submission.

PART E:

PART E, the Executive Summary, requires the Department to provide a succinct narrative of the status of the agency’s overall EEO program, discuss any problems discovered during the self-assessment, report on the barriers identified as a result of its barrier analyses, and briefly outline what activities will be undertaken to address any program deficiencies and identified barriers.

PART F:

PART F requires the Secretary of State, or designee, and the S/OCR Director to certify that the Department has completed an annual self-assessment of its EEO Program against the MD-715 essential elements and conducted comprehensive barrier analyses.

PART G:

PART G is the Self-Assessment Checklist. The Self-Assessment Checklist provides agencies with a comprehensive list of programs and policies necessary to operate a model EEO program.

When the Department identifies an item on the PART G checklist that could be answered ‘yes’ even though it is currently a ‘n,’ the Department will draw up a PART H to create a plan.

PART H:

PART H is the collection of Plans for Attaining the Essential Elements of a Model EEO Program.

PART I:

PART I, EEO Plan to Eliminate Identified Barrier, requires agencies to report specific plans of action aimed at identifying and removing barriers from their policies, procedures, or practices that limit or restrict free and open competition for groups involving race, ethnicity, and sex groups. To address barriers involving disability status, agencies must establish plans in PART J.

PART J:

PART J, the Special Program Plan for the Recruitment, Hiring, Advancement, and Retention of Persons with Disabilities, requires agencies to examine employment trends and participation rates of persons with disabilities and persons with targeted disabilities in agency programs. Based on the analysis of their workforce, agencies must establish plans with numerical and/or percentage goals to improve the participation rates of employees with disabilities, including targeted disabilities.

Pursuant to Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U,S,C, § 791(b)), all covered agencies must submit an Affirmative Action Plan for the recruitment, hiring, advancement, and retention of persons with disabilities (AA Plan) for the Commission’s review and approval, consistent with 29 C.F.R. 1614.203(e).

For questions concerning this report, please contact the Office of Civil Rights at socr_direct@state.gov.

Related Documents:

FY21 MD-715 Report  [966 KB]

FY22 MD-715 Report  [1 MB]