# Presentation: 552676

## Hot IssuesIn Nondiscrimination Law for Job Corps 

**Presented by:**
**Greg Shaw**
**Civil Rights Center**
**U.S. Department of Labor**

## Four issues we’ll be discussing

- Sexual harassment
- Transgendered students
- Limited English proficiency
- New religion-related regulations

## Sexual harassment complaints

- Job Corps alone had more sexual harassment complaints in FY03 than the *entire One-Stop system*

## The numbers

- Total complaints filed with State Workforce Agencies:  881
- Total sex harassment complaints:  100

- Total complaints filed with Job Corps:  330
- Total sex harassment complaints filed with Job Corps:  184

## We’ve got a problem

- Female students:
- Are 44 % of nationwide student population
- File 4.09 complaints per thousand students (male students file one complaint per thousand)
- File 5 (five) times as many sexual harassment complaints as male students

**Notes:**
by “people” I mean students AND EMPLOYEES 

## Staff-on-student sexual contact

- Instances of inappropriate sexual contact by staff for FY ’03:  8
- Instances of sexual assault by staff member for FY ’03:  5

**Notes:**
These are the instances that we know of – significant incident reports

## What we need to do

- Do a better job of screening employees
- Do a better job of monitoring students
- Change the culture
- Educate students and employees about:
- Gender stereotyping
- Sexual harassment

## Serving transgendered students

- Legal standards
- No Federal laws explicitly protect (some state laws do)
- Federal disability discrimination laws explicitly *don’t* protect
- Federal and state laws banning gender discrimination are being interpreted to protect transgendered persons

## How do scientists identify gender?

- It’s not as easy as you might think!
- Seven factors
- chromosomes (XX for females, XY for males, and variations)
- gonads (ovaries or testes)
- sex hormones (predominance of estrogen or androgen)
- internal reproductive organs (uterus or sperm ducts)

## How do scientists identify gender?(cont’d)

- Seven factors (cont’d)
- external genitalia (clitoris and labia or penis and scrotum)
- secondary sex characteristics (presence of breasts, body hair distribution)
- psychological sex (also known as gender identity)

## So who is transgendered?

- “When concerns, uncertainties, and questions about gender identity:
- “persist during a person’s development,
- “become so intense as to seem to be the most important aspect of a person's life, or
- “prevent the establishment of a relatively unconflicted gender identity”

**Notes:**
Source:  Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association's
Standards Of Care For Gender Identity Disorders -- Sixth Version, February 2001

## Pre-op vs. post-op

- Ideally, should not make a difference
- Medical principles require transitioning persons to live in the target gender for at least one year before surgery (two years for adolescents)
- Female-to-male (FTM) transsexuals frequently decide against having “bottom surgery”
- For both FTM and male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals, taking hormones may result in drastic body changes (infertility, “chemical castration”)

## Clothing and dress codes

- TG students should not be forced to wear clothes associated w/ gender with which s/he does not identify
- Would a genetically female student be disciplined for wearing the clothes the TG student chooses to wear?

## Clothing and dress codes (cont’d)

- TG students may be required to comply with dress code for gender with which s/he identifies
- Dress codes must be applied in same manner for both/all genders
- Best practice:  adopt neutrally-phrased dress code (e.g. “appropriate for student’s chosen career field”)

## Housing issues

- Separate housing by gender is legal
- Balance preop TG student’s need to live as desired gender with privacy concerns of roommates
- Concerns re:  sexual harassment / violence
- Sensitivity training / education

## What documentation should you require?

- If transgendered status is apparent (through self-identification or otherwise), and student wants to dress / live as desired gender:
- You can require letter or other documentation from doctor / therapist stating that student has gender identity disorder / gender dysphoria

**Notes:**
You won’t always know if a student is transgendered (may simply identify self as desired gender)

## Limited English proficiency

- Basic legal principles
- Denial of or delay in providing services / information in appropriate languages may be discrimination on the basis of national origin
- Federal law trumps State “English-only” laws

## What is Job Corps required to do?

- “Take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to information and services”

## What’s “reasonable”?

- Four-factor analysis requires you to consider:
- number / proportion of LEP persons:
- eligible to participate, and/or
- likely to be encountered in relevant service population
- frequency of contact LEP person must have w/program or activity (for Job Corps it’s 24/7) (continued on next slide)

## What’s “reasonable”? (cont’d)

- More on the four-factor analysis:
- importance of program / activity to LEP person
- resources available to Center / operator / Job Corps, and costs of providing services / information in alternate languages

## An effective language assistance program includes:

- Assessment -- thorough annual assessment of population eligible to be served
- Written policy that covers:
- oral interpretation
- written translation
- outreach to LEP populations

## An effective language assistance program also includes:

- Staff training
- Vigilant monitoring

## Written policy re:  interpretation

- Develop procedures to take some/all of these steps:
- Hiring bilingual staff who are trained and competent in interpreting
- Hiring trained interpreters for staff
- Contracting w/outside interpreting service
- Arranging formally for volunteer interpreters
- Arranging for use of telephone interpreter service

## Translation of written materials

- Vital documents (applications, consent forms,  other docs w/ important info)
- Significant number or percentage:  take advance steps to have materials translated

## Translation of written materials(cont’d)

- What’s “significant”?
- Analyze population of persons eligible to be served or likely to be affected/encountered
- Trigger amount:  DOL guidance says it’s “still under consideration”

## Translation of written materials(cont’d)

- DOJ guidance says it’s the smaller of
- Number:  one thousand (1,000), or
- Percentage:  five (5) percent
- If the five (5) percent trigger is reached:
- If there are fewer than 50 persons in the language group, you may provide written notice that person can get oral translation of written materials
- Written notice must be in primary language of the language group

## Important exception

- If written translation would be so burdensome that it would defeat legitimate objectives of Job Corps, and
- If alternative means of providing meaningful access to the information is available (such as timely, effective oral translation)

## For more info re:  LEP

- _[http://www.lep.gov](http://www.lep.gov/)_ – gives overview of govt-wide initiative re:  limited English proficiency
- Contact at CRC:  Naomi Barry-Perez
*Telephone:*
- 202-693-6511 (voice)
- 800-877-8339 (Federal Information Relay Service for TTY/TDD)
*E-Mail:  *barry-perez.naomi@dol.gov

## Religion-related changes to regs

- Students must be allowed to engage in voluntary religious activities on-center
- Includes holding religious services
- Services don’t have to be “nondenominational”

## Payment for religious services / activities

- Job Corps is now permitted to pay under these circumstances:
- facilities must be residential
- Job Corps / government must exert so much control over program environment that exercise of religious rights would be “significantly burdened” if Job Corps didn’t pay for the activities
- Otherwise, no Job Corps / govt financial support for inherently religious activities

## Where to get more information

***CRC website*** (http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/ crcwelcome.htm)
- Contains information such as:
- CRC’s LEP Guidance
- PowerPoint presentations from National Training Conference

## Contacting CRC

*Postal Mail:*
- Denise Sudell, Civil Rights Center, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20210
*Telephone:*
- 202-693-6554 (voice)
- 800-877-8339 (Federal Information Relay Service
- for TTY/TDD)
*E-Mail:  *sudell.denise@dol.gov