In a sign that the federal government’s two equal employment opportunity (EEO) enforcement agencies are following through on their long-promised vow to better coordinate enforcement efforts, the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced they had entered into a joint conciliation agreement with federal contractor Asbestos Specialists, Inc. (ASI).
Although the two agencies have been operating under a decades-old memorandum of understanding (MOU) that contemplates such coordination, it has been manifested only rarely in the context of establishing joint liability with regard to a federal contractor.
Under the terms of the joint conciliation agreement (JCA), ASI will, among other things, pay $100,000 to compensate Hispanic workers who were allegedly harassed by ASI supervisory employees. The affected workers were in turn employed by WMS Solutions, LLC (WMS), a staffing contractor that provided the workers to ASI.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.