IMPOSITION OF CAP ON EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS WHO PROVIDE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COUNSELING.

SEC. 408. IMPOSITION OF CAP ON EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS WHO PROVIDE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COUNSELING.(a) Reimposition of Cap.—(1) In general.—Section 516 of title 38, United States Code, as amended by section 7(a) of the Responsible Education Mitigating Options and Technical Extensions Act (Public Law 117–76), is further amended—(A) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (h); and (B) by inserting after subsection (f) the following new subsection (g):“(g)(1)(A) Except as provided in paragraph (4), beginning on the date of the enactment of the Joseph Maxwell Cleland and Robert Joseph Dole Memorial Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2022 and ending on the date that is three years after the date of the enactment of such Act, the number of employees of the Department whose duties include equal employment opportunity counseling functions may not exceed 76 full-time equivalent employees.136 STAT. 5496 “(B) Except as provided in paragraph (4), beginning on the date that is three years after the date of enactment of the Joseph Maxwell Cleland and Robert Joseph Dole Memorial Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2022, the number of employees of the Department whose duties include equal employment opportunity counseling functions may not exceed 81 full-time equivalent employees. “(2) Except as provided in paragraph (4), of the 76 full-time equivalent employees set forth in paragraph (1), the number of employees of the Department whose duties include equal employment opportunity counseling functions as well as other unrelated functions may not exceed 40 full-time equivalent employees. “(3) Except as provided in paragraph (4), any employee described in paragraph (2) whose duties include equal employment opportunity counseling functions as well as other unrelated functions may be assigned equal employment opportunity counseling functions only at Department facilities in remote geographic locations. “(4)(A) Beginning on the date that is one year after the date of enactment of the Joseph Maxwell Cleland and Robert Joseph Dole Memorial Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2022, the Secretary shall promptly notify Congress if, at any point in time, the number of full-time equivalent employees of the Department specified in paragraph (1), whose duties include equal opportunity counseling functions, is insufficient for the Department to meet its required obligations under law. “(B) Notification under subparagraph (A) shall include—“(i) the specific legal obligations relating to employment discrimination, or other matters similar to those covered by regulations prescribed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that the Department is unable to meet; and “(ii) the total additional number of full-time equivalent employees of the Department that would be needed for the Department to meet such obligations.” . (2) Conforming amendment.—Subsection (b) of section 7 of such Act is hereby repealed. (b) Report.—Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress a report that includes the following elements:(1) An accounting of the number of informal stage cases filed with the employment discrimination complaint resolution system established and administered under section 516(a) of title 38, United States Code, disaggregated by—(A) the period beginning on January 1, 2019, and ending on the date of the enactment of this Act; and (B) the three-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. (2) A comparison of timeliness, with respect to the average time to process, of processing of informal stage cases by such system with respect to—(A) the period beginning on January 1, 2019, and ending on the date of the enactment of this Act; and (B) the three-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. (3) An accounting of the amounts, times, and quality of informal claims processed by employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs whose duties include only equal employment 136 STAT. 5497 opportunity counseling functions under section 516 of title 38, United States Code, disaggregated by—(A) the ten-year period ending on the date of the enactment of this Act; and (B) the three-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. (c) Annual Reports.—Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act and once each year thereafter, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall make available to the public on an internet website of the Department an annual report that includes, for the year covered by the report, the following:(1) Total number of complaints filed through the employment discrimination complaint resolution system established and administered under subsection (a) of section 516 of title 38, United States Code. (2) Total number of such complaints completed processing by such system in a timely manner. (3) The percentage of all pre-complaint counseling provided under such section that led to resolution without further action. (4) The percentage of all pre-complaint counseling provided under such section that led to resolution via alternative dispute resolution. (5) The percentage of all pre-complaint counseling provided under such section that led to filing of a formal complaint via such system. (6) An accounting of the amounts, times, and quality of informal claims processed by employees of the Department whose duties include equal employment opportunity counseling under such section. (7) An estimate of the required ratio of Department employees whose duties include equal employment opportunity counseling functions relative to the number of full-time equivalent employees in the Department. (d) Independent Assessment.—Not later than 180 days after the first report is made available under subsection (c), the Comptroller General shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives an independent assessment of the ratio reported by the Secretary pursuant to paragraph (7) of such subsection. Such assessment shall include such recommendations as the Secretary may have for improving such ratio and the ability of the Department to provide equal employment opportunity counseling.