Claudia Gordon serves in the U.S. Department of Labor as Special Assistant to OFCCP Director Patricia Shiu. In this position, Ms. Gordan works very hard within the OFCCP on many important policy issues, particularly with respect to discrimination against persons with disabilities. Ms. Gordon was profiled recently in the White House Blog. The link is at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/30/meet-women-administration-claudia-gordon
The OFCCP reports that sixty-six regional personnel attended compliance officer training in Washington DC on August 9-20. The training was a result of Director Patricia Shiu’s commitment to hire 200 new compliance officers for expanded enforcement activities and ensure all compliance officers receive uniform, nationally certified training for the first time in more than a decade. Training courses ranged from discrimination theories and interviewing skills, to how to conduct a desk audit. Shiu told the attendees: “You will make sure everyone gets a fair shot at a job and that no one has to endure unlawful harassment of any kind.”
OFCCP Director Pat Shiu spoke at a public forum in Chicago on August 20. The forum was sponsored by the OFCCP Midwest Region. Director Shiu stressed jobs, the importance of expanding outreach to workers’ rights organizations, the current regulatory reform efforts for veterans, individuals with disabilities and construction workers, and her work on the President’s National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force. OFCCP Regional Director Sandra Zeigler provided national and Illinois employment forecasts and regional enforcement accomplishments.
Many federal contractors, especially those with FAAP agreements, know Jim Pierce, who works in OFCCP’s national office. Jim is a 28-year employee of the Department of Labor and was recently designated to represent the DOL at the White House, where President Barack Obama and members of the New Orleans Saints’ football team gathered to attend the traditional meeting between the president and the latest Super Bowl winner. Jim’s story is in the DOL newsletter at: http://www.dol.gov/_sec/newsletter/2010/20100819-2.htm#pierce.
The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy has released an online training resource designed to educate and inform HR professionals, hiring managers and employers about TBI and PTSD, and how these injuries may impact employment, while illustrating that employment can play a vital role in the recovery of wounded veterans.
A link to this training is at http://www.americasheroesatwork.gov/forEmployers/presentations/TBIptsd/.
The U.S. Department of Labor has released disability employment statistics for last month.
In July 2010, the percentage of people with disabilities in the labor force was 21.5. By comparison, the percentage of persons with no disability in the labor force was 70.6. The unemployment rate for those with disabilities was 16.4 percent, compared with 9.5 percent for persons with no disability, not seasonally adjusted. DOL Office of Disability Employment Policy.
OFCCP Director Patricia Shiu delivered the first keynote address at the ILG national conference on Wednesday, August 4, 2010. In general, Shiu’s remarks followed recommendations made by the White House National Equal Pay Task Force on July 20, 2010. The text of her remarks is posted on the OFCCP website here.
Patricia Shiu’s remarks underscore a consistent message from the Department of Labor: stepped up and aggressive enforcement of OFCCP regulations, and the development of new regulations to strengthen its focus on pay equity, and affirmative action requirements for individuals with disabilities and for protected veterans.
The OFCCP now has the budget, staff, and most importantly, the will, to successfully undertake this ambitious enforcement agenda. Failure to comply will have serious and expensive consequences for contractors.
Patricia Shiu, Director of the OFCCP National Office, is scheduled to deliver a keynote address on Wednesday, August 3, 2010 at the 2010 ILG National Conference. The annual industry conference is attended by corporate EEO and affirmative action leaders from federal contractors across the country. Jacqueline Berrien, Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is also scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the conference. The conference runs August 3-6.
The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has released a new report entitled “Six Federal Partners Listening Sessions”, which summarizes the input received from the public during “listening sessions” held across the country from January through March 2010. The purpose of these sessions was to collect information and comments about best practices and key issues to be addressed by federal workforce systems regarding the employability, employment, workforce participation, retention, and promotion of people with disabilities.
A link to the report is at http://www.dol.gov/odep/dltour/six-partners-listening.htm#intro.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register on July 23 seeking input from the public on ways to strengthen its regulations requiring federal contractors to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with disabilities. The agency invites the public to help revise the regulations implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
A link to the ANPRM is here. Public comments must be submitted by September 21, 2010.
