# Presentation: 243210

## Religion-related changesto Job Corps regulationsand PRH

- Presented by the Civil Rights Center,
- USDOL’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives,
- and Job Corps

## Where can I find the relevant changes?

- New equal treatment regulations (29 CFR Part 2, Subpart D)
- Workforce Investment Act (WIA) nondiscrimination and programmatic regulations (29 CFR 37.6(f); 20 CFR 667.266 and 667.275)
- Job Corps regulations (20 CFR 670.555)
- Job Corps Policy and Requirements Handbook (PRH)—Sections 6.8 (Civil and Legal Rights), 2.2, 3.17, 5.4 and 6.9

## The USDOL equal treatment regulations:

- Apply to all providers that implement USDOL supported social service programs, including:
- For-profit and non-profit organizations, including FBCOs
- State and local governments
- One-Stop system
- Job Corps Center operators & contractors
- Govern the administration and distribution of USDOL support

## Religion-Related Requirements forJob Corps

- Job Corps Centers must take steps to protect the religious liberty of students
- Job Corps Centers must not favor an organization for, or exclude an organization from, community outreach, student recruitment and mentoring, community service, and post-Job Corps employment activities on the basis of religious character or affiliation
- Job Corps Centers must not discriminate for or against students on the basis of religion or religious belief
- FBCOs that partner with Job Corps must be permitted to remain independent
- FBCOs partnering with Job Corps must not refuse to serve students on account of religion

**Notes:**
Faith-based organizations that receive USDOL support may:
*  continue to carry out their religious activities
*  keep religious signs or symbols in their facilities
*  continue to select their board members (including members of the clergy) and otherwise govern themselves on a religious basis
*  offer voluntary religious activities to program participants—keep in mind that no “direct” Federal support can be used for religious activities and these activities must be separate in time or location from Federally supported activities and voluntary for program participants

## Religion-Related Requirements forJob Corps

**The Job Corps Policy and Requirements Handbook (PRH)  outlines steps Job Corps Centers must take to protect the religious liberty of Job Corps students:**
- Job Corps Centers must not discriminate for or against students on the basis of religion or religious belief
- Job Corps Centers must inform students about their religious rights
- Job Corps Centers must permit voluntary religious activities, including religious services, to occur at Job Corps Centers (services do not have to be “nondenominational” as under the prior regulation)
- (continued on next slide...)

## Religion-Related Requirements forJob Corps

**Job Corps requirements continued...**
- Job Corps Centers may continue to transport students to local religious facilities
- Job Corps Centers must accommodate student religious practices subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions
- Special rule: Where there is such government control over the program environment that student religious exercise would otherwise be significantly burdened, Job Corps Centers may use “direct” Federal support to facilitate student-requested religious activities

## Prohibited activities

- Activities always prohibited on center (regardless of any religious motivation):
- Acts of violence
- Animal sacrifice
- Performance of curses, hexes, or other rituals or actions intended to harm others
- Public nudity
- Acts of self-mutilation or infliction of bodily harm
- Use or display of weapons
- Exclusion by race, ethnicity, color, or national origin
- Sexual acts
- (continued on next slide)

## Prohibited activities (cont’d)

- More activities always prohibited on center (regardless of any religious motivation):
- Use, possession, or sale of controlled substances
- Being under the influence of, using, or possessing any:
- narcotic drugs
- hallucinogens
- marijuana
- barbiturates
- amphetamines
- (continued on next slide)

## Prohibited activities (cont’d)

- More activities always prohibited on center (regardless of any religious motivation):
- Re:  alcoholic beverages:
- being under the influence of or using
- operating a motor vehicle while under the influence
- Coercion or harassment of anyone based on religion or lack thereof
- (continued on next slide)

## Prohibited activities (cont’d)

- More activities always prohibited on center (regardless of any religious motivation):
- Possession of unauthorized goods (as defined in the Job Corps regulations at 20 CFR 670.120), including:
- Firearms and ammunition
- Explosives and incendiaries
- Knives with blades longer than 2 inches
- Homemade weapons
- All other weapons and instruments used primarily to inflict personal injury
- Stolen property
- Drugs, including alcohol, depressants, stimulants, tranquilizers, and drug paraphernalia except for drugs and/or paraphernalia that are prescribed for medical reasons (see also list on slide 8)
- Any other goods prohibited by a center operator in a student handbook

## How to contact us

- Brian Kennedy, Deputy National Director, Office of Job Corps
- Voice phone:  202-693-3000
- Fax:  202-693-2767
- Rhett Butler, USDOL CFBCI
- E-mail:  _[butler.rhett@dol.gov](mailto:butler.rhett@dol.gov)_
- Voice phone:  202-693-6450
- Robin McDonald, USDOL CFBCI
- E-mail:  _[mcdonald.robin@dol.gov](mailto:mcdonald.robin@dol.gov)_
- Voice phone:  202-693-6450
- Denise Sudell, Civil Rights Center
- E-mail:  _[sudell.denise@dol.gov](mailto:sudell.denise@dol.gov)_
- Voice phone:  202-693-6554
- All of the above voice phone numbers may be reached by TTY via the Federal Relay Service, 800-877-8339