By Diane Pietraszewski

The vast majority of all equal employment opportunity lawsuits are filed by individual employees or job applicants. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) may file cases on behalf of individuals, but it rarely does so because of limited resources. To get more “bang” for its litigation bucks, the EEOC is increasingly turning to “pattern-or-practice” cases. You should respond to any EEOC charges against your company with that in mind, crafting your responses to avoid creating issues that trigger federal court litigation funded by the agency.

EEOC Focus: Systemic Claims

In recent years, the EEOC has shifted much of its focus to systemic claims, otherwise known as pattern-or-practice claims, which target discriminatory patterns, practices, or policies that have a broad impact on certain groups of individuals. In 2005, for example, the EEOC created the Systemic Task Force for the primary purpose of improving its methods and strategies for targeting systemic discrimination. In fact, although the EEOC has recently filed fewer lawsuits on behalf of individual employees, the number of systemic discrimination lawsuits it has initiated has approximately doubled in the past 10 years. In 2010 alone, out of 165 systemic investigations, the agency obtained 29 settlements or conciliation agreements, bringing in approximately $6.7 million. read more…

By Jeanine Poole

It may seem that requiring a high-school diploma for a job is a correct answer. However, a recent “informal discussion letter” from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) indicates that you may need to do more studying before making that choice.

Background

In October 2011, the state of Tennessee wrote the EEOC, asking whether “the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as amended by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), prohibits the state of Tennessee from requiring students with learning disabilities to take ‘Gateway tests’ or ‘end-of-course assessments’ in order to receive their high-school diplomas.” The EEOC initially responded by referring the state to the Tennessee Department of Education. However, the EEOC then took the opportunity to address one statement in the letter that raised employment-related concerns for the agency under Title I of the ADA. We want to ensure you are aware of the agency’s position on the matter. read more…

Someone applies for a job and doesn’t get it. End of story? Not necessarily. More than 6,300 unsuccessful job applicants have complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) so far this fiscal year, claiming illegal discrimination kept them out of a job.

Bass Pro, Weight Watchers in EEOC’s Sights

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Patricia Shiu, director of the U.S. Department of Labor‘s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), delivered the keynote speech at the annual meeting of federal contractors and OFCCP representatives for the National Industry Liaison Group on July 27 in New Orleans. The key portions of Shiu’s speech, in which she provided important updates on the OFCCP, are below. The OFCCP is responsible for the enforcement of federal contractors’ affirmative action and nondiscrimination obligations.

Welcome to the 29th annual Industry Liaison Group Conference. I know how important it is for all of us to get together like this, and I want to thank each and every one of you for spending your time here this week. . . .

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On June 21, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Jacqueline Berrien participated with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Attorney General Eric Holder in a roundtable discussion of employment strategies for getting individuals with criminal records, including recently released prisoners, back to work. Employers, service providers, academics, policy advocates, and former prisoners also participated. The meeting was sponsored by the Obama administration’s Reentry Council, an interagency group of cabinet-level officials whose goal is to coordinate federal agency resources to assist former prisoners in becoming productive citizens, thereby saving taxpayer dollars by reducing recidivism.

One of the first products of this collaboration is the EEOC’s “Reentry MythBusters,” fact sheets designed to dispel common misconceptions that those with criminal records are automatically barred from employment. One “MythBuster” addresses the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 implications of using arrest and conviction records as a basis for employment decisions. While the EEOC acknowledges that an employer isn’t prohibited from requiring applicants to provide information about all prior convictions or incarcerations, they may not treat people with the same criminal records differently because of their race or national origin.

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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency responsible for the enforcement of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, recently released its statistical data on fiscal year 2010 filings. The data indicated that workplace discrimination complaints against private sector firms reached an all-time high in 2010. The Commission reported that filings with the federal agency nationwide totaled 99,922 during fiscal year 2010, which ended on September 30, 2010. That was a seven percent increase over fiscal year 2009. The Commission reported that in fiscal year 2010, it received more employment discrimination complaints than any other year in the 45-year history of the commission. The Commission stated that the nearly 100,000 complaints it received in fiscal year 2010 resulted in over $400 million in payments from employers.

The Commission reported that greater diversity in the work force is one of the factors that may have led to the record number of job-related bias complaints. The overall economy in the country and the high rates of unemployment no doubt also contributed to the increase in bias complaints against employers.

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Earlier this year, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which is responsible for ensuring that entities doing business with the federal government take affirmative action as required by Executive Order 11246, released its fiscal year 2011 budget request and enforcement initiatives. OFCCP director Patricia A. Shiu said she plans to implement full-scale aggressive enforcement efforts. The agency is better funded than before and ready to enforce affirmative action rules and focus on systemic discrimination. Government contractors are well advised to prepare themselves for more on-site reviews, including more thorough reviews of affirmative action plans than in the past. Other areas likely for review are contractor job advertisements, recruitment practices, hiring decisions, and pay.

Affirmative Action

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In August, U.S. combat troops left Iraq, and President Barack Obama has said the military will start pulling troops from Afghanistan in July 2011. With this steady stream of military veterans coming back, inevitably some will end up in your application pools. Previously, we have discussed why hiring veterans makes sense. Now, the U.S. Department of Labor has released the Veterans Hiring Toolkit to help employers through the process of hiring veterans.

“Many employers have told us that they are interested in developing or enhancing a veterans hiring initiative for their company, but that they don’t know where to begin,” Assistant Secretary for the DOL’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service Ray Jefferson said in a press release announcing the launch of the toolkit. “This toolkit was created with these employers in mind. It’s designed to simplify the process and put valuable, vetted resources at the employer’s fingertips.”

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The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (also known as “financial reform” or “the Wall Street bill”) made headlines when President Barack Obama signed it into law on July 21. However, many employers probably don’t realize the legislation contains diversity provisions that could affect them if they are contractors, subcontractors, or service providers for certain federal government agencies. More specifically, the diversity requirements found in the bill will affect financial industry organizations and those connected to them.

Office of Minority and Women Inclusion

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The Department of Labor (DOL) has a tool available on its website for employers that want to make sure their policies and practices don’t discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities. The online Disability Nondiscrimination Law Advisor, available at www.dol.gov/elaws/odep.htm, helps employers determine which federal disability nondiscrimination laws apply to their business, including:

• Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA);

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