# Presentation: 785006

## Discrimination Complaint Log EvaluationPhase I

- Pir Ahmad
- USDOL - Civil Rights Center

## Scope of Analysis

- A Three year longitudinal study
- Purpose:  An informational tool to assist the Civil Rights Center with its compliance assistance efforts and monitoring activities.  To provide feedback to the State Workforce Agencies and their recipients and USDOL-operated Job Corps Centers.

## Scope of Analysis

- Examine the complaint activity of recipients nationwide under Title I WIA, Wagner-Peyser, Unemployment Insurance, and against USDOL-operated Job Corps Centers
- Demographic analysis of the population filing complaints of discrimination, along with the bases and issues of complaints

## Scope of Analysis

- Identifying and examining the complaint activity related to and from persons with disabilities
- Conducting process-based evaluations into the complaint processing procedures
- Developing performance measures
- Trend Analysis

## Phase I

- Data Submission
- State Workforce Agencies and Their Recipients
- USDOL-operated Job Corps Centers
- Complaint Activity
- Complaint Filers
- Persons with Disabilities

## Phase I

- Complaint Processing Performance
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Complaint Outcomes
- Non-jurisdictional Complaints
- Recap

## Regional Distribution

- _Midwest Region_:  Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas
- _Southeast Region_: Alabama, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia
- _West Region_: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming
- _Northeast Region_: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin

## I.  Data Submission

- State Workforce Agencies and Their Recipients
- USDOL-operated Job Corps Centers

## Data Submission

- Program Demographic Data
- Challenges encountered:  A number of State Workforce Agencies experienced problems with aggregation and allocation of multiple race responses of program participants.
- Data inadequacies:  Especially for UI data, precluded the inclusion of program demographic data in this phase of the study

## State Workforce Agencies – FY03 Complaint Log Submission

|  | Midwest | Southeast | West | Northeast | Total |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Number of States in Region | 13 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 53 |
| Number of States Submitting Complaints | 10 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 44 |
| Total, Complaints Submitted | 397 | 252 | 152 | 80 | 881 |

## USDOL-operated Job Corps Centers

|  | Midwest | Southeast | West | Northeast | U.S. Totals |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Job Corps Centers | 22 | 28 | 21 | 24 | 95 |
| Centers Submitting Complaints | 
11 | 
16 | 
10 | 
13 | 
50 |
| Total Complaints Submitted | 81 | 110 | 39 | 100 | 330 |
| Student Population | 23,210 | 29,776 | 20,427 | 21,562 | 94,975 |
| Number of Complaints/1,000 Students | 
3.49 | 
3.69 | 
1.91 | 
4.64 | 
3.47 |

## II. Complaint Activity

- Complaint Filers
- Persons with Disabilities

## Complaint Filers

## Persons with Disabilities

- Filed 137 complaints alleging discrimination
- Disabled employees of State Workforce Agencies accounted for 56% of all disability complaints
- Disability complaints occurred most often in the Midwest – accounting for 41%
- Job Corps received only four complaints alleging discrimination on the bases of disability

## III. Complaint Processing Performance

- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Complaint Outcomes
- Non-jurisdictional Complaints

## Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

- In FY03 ADR utilization ranged from a low of 3% of complaints in the Midwest to a high of 9% in the West.
- 57 complaints were resolved utilizing an ADR process
- ADR participation rates
- WIA participants 13%
- Employees 6%
- Customers 5%

## Complaint Outcomes

## Non-Jurisdictional Complaints

- 453 complaints or 37% of all FY03 complaints classified as non-jurisdictional
- Majority filed under the bases of sex, race, and disability
- Over half of the complaints classified as non-jurisdictional were filed by employees
- 45% of all complaints alleging discrimination on the bases of disability were classified as non-jurisdictional

## Recap

- Nationwide 1,211 complaints alleging discrimination were filed in FY03
- Employees filed 551 complaints or 45% of all complaints.  On the bases of sex, predominately female, and race, mostly Black.  43% of these complaints were classified as non-jurisdictional.

## Recap - continue

- Job Corps students filed 190 complaints alleging discrimination, with 117 or 62% being filed by female students.  The main issue – harassment, whether sexual or verbal, or simply living in a hostile environment.
- Female students were five times as likely to file a complaint alleging sexual harassment than their male counterpart.

## Recap - continue

- Persons with disabilities filed 137 complaints, accounting for 11% of all complaints filed in FY03.
- Disabled employees of State Workforce Agencies and their local areas filed 56% of all disability discrimination complaints.
- Complaint issues – wrongful termination and failure to provide reasonable accommodation.

## Recap - continue

- ADR utilization ranged from a low of 3% to a high of 9% of all complaints filed in FY03.
- WIA participants had the highest ADR participation rates at 13%.
- Complaint Processing Times:
- Average 29 days

## Recap

- High incidence of classifying discrimination complaints as non-jurisdictional – 37%
- Midwest Region; 60%
- Majority of these complaints were filed by employees, under the prohibited bases of sex, race, and disability.