OFCCP vs EEOC

We have come a long way as a society wherein discrimination was an accepted practice, particularly in the workplace. Acts of discrimination can include concerns through advertising, recruitment and hiring, job assignment, and promotional opportunities, benefits of employment and wages, training and apprenticeship, disciplinary actions, and removal from employment. Harassment is also a form of discrimination. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) are the two arms of the federal government that have authority over concerns of discrimination relating to employment.

As part of the United States Department of Labor, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) handles the responsibilities of making sure employers are complying with the laws covering nondiscrimination in their operations as they conduct business with the federal government. It was established in 1978 under Executive Order 12086 of then-President Jimmy Carter, though the seeds were planted farther back during the term of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt under Executive Order 8802 (which prevented discrimination based on race for government contractors). Further developments came from Executive Orders 10479, 10308, 10925, 11246, and 11375 by Presidents Eisenhower, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, respectively. By the term of President Gerald Ford, the OFCCP was fully established.

The OFCCP is authorized to administer and ensure the enforcement on businesses and their subcontractors doing work or business with the federal government to prohibit discrimination. The forms of discrimination include, but are not limited to: ethnicity, skin color, race, religious beliefs, disability, and for protected veterans (as stated in Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, 38 U.S.C. 4212). These measures ensure equal and fair employment opportunities for citizens of the United States without fear of unlawful discrimination. The current OFCCP’s activities are primarily based on the Rehabilitation Act under Section 503 as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act. The OFCCP provides outreach programs to ensure contractors understand and comply with the obligations covered under non-discrimination.

On the other hand, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is an independent agency under the federal government that makes sure non-discrimination is practiced and enforced in the workplace for all independent businesses and employers that are not contracted with the federal government. The EEOC was initiated in 1965 and further evolved from the promulgation of different acts covering different potential points of discrimination which first falls under the mandate of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, adding the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, and finally, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. The EEOC is authorized to investigate and file lawsuits against employers if alleged grounds that discrimination have occurred.

The coverage of non-discrimination under the guidelines that the EEOC follows the same as the previously mentioned OFCCP include: race, color, nation of origin, religion, gender, and mental and physical capacity. Within the rules and regulations monitored by the EEOC, any act of discrimination against an individual under the above-mentioned coverage is illegal. This extends to non-retaliation for the act of reporting the discrimination to the authorities, including filing charges or participation in an investigation or lawsuit from potential acts discrimination.

The only real distinction that the two offices OFCCP and EEOC have between each other is that one holds authority when it comes to businesses or other entities that are contracted or sub-contracted to work with the federal government, while the other covers everything else. Both are empowered to extend assistance to the aggrieved parties and to pursue actions against the offending parties should discrimination be suspected and proven. It is good to know, regardless, that the government has continued to support non-discrimination in our continuously diverse world.

Summary:

1.The OFCCP was created with the goal of monitoring and regulating non-discrimination for business contractors and sub-contractors dealing with the federal government.
2.The EEOC is the agency that handles concerns for any discrimination that occurs in the workplace within the United States.
3.Both are empowered to support the victims of discrimination and have the authority to file lawsuits against violators of non-discrimination.

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