This for That: What EEOC Trends Reveal About Representative Bureaucracy

Abstract

Representative bureaucracy is one of the mechanisms used to achieve representative democracy. This article assesses how bureaucratic representation affects public access to administrative remedies, a recourse linked with social equity in public service organizations. Representative bureaucracy theory is applied to 14 years of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission demographics and outcomes data. The analysis asks whether passive representation trends parallel trends in active representation outcomes, using longitudinal workforce, charge, suit, and resolution data. Results suggest trends in client driven outcomes (charges) were consistent with passive representation, while organizational outcomes (suits and resolutions) outpaced disability representation but fell short of racial and gender representation. The trend analysis findings, which offer timely insights into the effects of human resource management, suggests organizational priorities and processes affect representation more than previously thought.