Contractor to pay $2 million to settle discrimination claims
June 27th, 2012 | Procurement | Posted by Sarah Chacko
Baldor Electric Co., which once produced batteries and generators for the Army and other federal agencies, has agreed to pay $2 million and offer 50 people jobs to settle allegations of discrimination, federal contract oversight officials said this week.
The company’s applicant screening process for its facility in Fort Smith, Ark. allegedly discriminated against women and minorities, the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) said in a news release. The OFCCP found the company’s process of evaluating applicants was based on subjective standards, not an objective analysis of a person’s qualifications, an OFCCP spokesman said. As a result, 795 qualified women, African-Americans and job seekers of Asian and Hispanic descent could not advance to the interview stage when applying for production and laborer positions, OFCCP said in the release.
The company did not receive any complaints over its hiring process from the group, said Baldor Electric spokeswoman Tracy Long. The OFCCP’s finding was based on an analysis of people who applied for positions at Baldor and how many of those applicants were asked to interview for positions, she said.
Officials believed they were in compliance with federal rules but decided to settle to avoid further legal costs, Long said.
OFCCP enforces Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors who receive more than $10,000 in government contracts each year from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. OFCCP raised the issue with Baldor officials in 2007 after conducting a routine compliance audit, the OFCCP spokesman said.
Baldor, which is based in Fort Smith, currently has federal contracts worth more than $18 million with the General Services Administration and the Veterans Affairs and Justice departments, according to OFCCP. From 1997 to 2010, Baldor received $79 million to produce batteries and generators for federal agencies including the Army, GSA and the Justice Department, OFCCP said.
Under the terms of the agreement, Baldor will pay $2 million in back wages and interest to the 795 affected individuals and will make at least 50 job offers to the group as positions become available, OFCCP said. The company also agreed to begin self-monitoring measures to ensure that all hiring practices fully comply with the law, OFCCP said.
Tags: Baldor Electric, discrimination, Executive Order 11246, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
Legislation is not enough to protect gay contractors, equal rights advocates say
April 12th, 2012 | Procurement | Posted by Sarah Chacko
An executive order that would extend discrimination protections to gay federal workers is not forthcoming, a senior administration official said Thursday. Instead, the Obama administration is hoping that a bill mulling in Congress for the last 18 years will eventually bring about the workplace protections that gay rights advocates and lawmakers have been seeking.
Lawmakers have proposed but never passed legislation to extend workforce discrimination protections to cover sexual orientation during almost every session of Congress since 1994. Language to cover gender identity discrimination was added to the proposed bill, called the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, in 2007.
But the bill itself would not go as far as an executive order, according to experts at the Center for American Progress. CAP staff compared the proposed legislation to similar protections provided in a 1965 executive order that prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
The proposed bill would apply to employers with 15 or more employees, whereas a new executive order would likely cover any business that receives a government contract for more than $10,000, CAP experts said in a recent article.
Also, people who want to report gender identity or sexual orientation discrimination would file complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, under the proposed bill. Under an executive order, people discriminated against by federal contractors could also file complaints through the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which conducts more proactive compliance reviews on companies, CAP experts said in the article.
More than 16 million employees of federal contractors either work for companies or reside in states that do not provide explicitly protect workers from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, according to a February report by UCLA’s Williams Institute, which conducts research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.
Freedom to Work, which seeks anti-discrimination policies for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender workers, collected more than 110,000 signatures in an online petition asking the president to issue the executive order. Seventy-two House members, led by Rep. Frank Pallone, D-NJ, signed a letter to the president requesting the order as well.
Officials from Freedom to Work, the Center for American Progress and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force met with White House officials this week to talk about President Obama’s plan to keep a campaign promise he made before becoming president. They left disappointed.
“It remains legal to fire or refuse to hire people based on their sexual orientation in more than half the country – 29 states; the same is true for gender identity in 34 states,” Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said in a statement. “Given the huge gap in statewide protections, the administration and Congress must step up to protect LGBT people and their families nationally.”
Tags: discrimination, executive order, gay, gender identity, LGBT, petition, sexual orientation
Group seeks protections for gay contractors
March 16th, 2012 | Procurement Workplace | Posted by Sarah Chacko
More than 100,000 people have signed an online petition asking the president to issue an executive order ensuring workplace protections for gay federal contractors.
Administration officials will not confirm any action, but Tico Almeida, president of the Freedom to Work advocacy group, said Labor and Justice department lawyers have recommended President Obama issue a policy requiring federal contractors to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Freedom to Work, which seeks anti-discrimination policies for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender workers, created the online petition at Change.org.
More than 16 million employees of federal contractors either work for companies or reside in states that do not provide those protections, according to a February report by UCLA’s Williams Institute, which conducts research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.
Several large contractors, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Dynamics, and some states offer specific protections against sexual orientation discrimination, Almeida said. DynCorp International recently added such protections after reports that company officials demoted and transferred an employee who reported being taunted by anti-gay slurs, he said.
Companies without explicit policies prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination may still offer protections for their employees, said Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president for the Professional Services Council industry association. However, having those policies in place could help the workforce feel better protected, he said.
“It’s an area worth paying attention to,” Chvotkin said.
Tags: discrimination, executive order, gay, gender identity, LGBT, petition, sexual orientation, Workplace