NWX-DOL ESA OFCCP

Moderator: Keisha Brown

06-23-20/12:00 pm CT

Confirmation # 1399933

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NWX-DOL ESA OFCCP

Moderator: Keisha Brown

June 23, 2020

12:00 pm CT

Coordinator: Welcome and thank you for standing by. All participants will be in a listenonly mode until the question and answer session of today’s presentation. This 

call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this 

time. I would now like to turn the call over today to our host, the OFCCP 

Director, Craig Leen. Sir you may begin. Thank you.

Craig Leen: Thank you very much. It's such a pleasure to be here with all of you today on 

this WebEx to talk about a topic that’s of primary importance to OFCCP and 

that is the Indian and Native American Employment Rights Program or 

INAERP is what we usually call it.

For those of you on the call that may not know what OFCCP is, let me just 

give you a brief background. You all may know this but just in case, OFCCP 

is a civil rights agency of the federal government. It regulates federal

contractors so any company that gets a contract from the United States 

government that’s over a certain amount and they're over a certain size they 

have to do affirmative action programs for each of the establishment that 

company has.
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So if you have a company that has 100 different factories or offices or work 

centers or whatever it may be, each one of those has to have an affirmative 

action program in place that ensures equal employment opportunity. The 

OFCCP does audits every year of about 1500 of these establishments across 

the United States. There are 25,000 federal contractors in the United States 

and there is about 125,000 federal contractor establishments.

We touch about 1/4 of America’s workforce and a lot of these companies are 

the biggest most famous companies in the world that have a lot of economic 

might and have a major impact on the American economy and the world 

economy. 

OFCCP is the agency that ensures that civil rights are followed, that they're 

protected, and that equal employment opportunities exist. As I always say in 

all my speeches, this is central to the American dream, essential to what 

makes this country so special, the idea that all are created equal and that 

everyone has the opportunity to participate in the economy. 

Now I know speaking on this talk today, I'm speaking more generally about 

the times we're in and we have not lived up to that, and I know that Native 

Americans and tribal leaders know that more than basically anyone. So, I 

know that over the past 200 years, the United States government has not lived 

up to its obligations to the Native American community. 

And as you can see today, very similar with the African-American 

community, where the United States government, even though it was founded 

on these tremendous principles, never lived up to it, and from the beginning 

the vision and the dream was imperfect and we're continuing to try to perfect 

that over the years.
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But, you know, in a country where this nation was founded and took land 

from Native Americans through violence and through terrible events that I 

don’t need to go into at length and then it started with the existence of slavery,

it’s obviously true that there is so much progress that had to be made to reach 

that vision. 

So, even though we haven’t done that what you should all know is that 

OFCCP is committed to the vision and trying to perfect it and trying to ensure 

that Native Americans are fully part of the American economy and, you know, 

there are a lot of obstacles. That is why INAERP exists and that’s why we’re 

on this call with you today to tell you about what we’re trying to do to 

improve economic opportunity for Native Americans in this country. 

Let me tell you a couple stats, which you may already know but that 

American Indian and Alaska Native population in the United States is about 

6,795,785, actually it’s a very specific number, or about 2%. In addition to the 

that states with the highest population of Native Americans it’s Alaska at 

27.9%, Oklahoma at 17.4%, New Mexico at 14.5%, South Dakota at 12% and 

it goes on from there.

Let me tell you all the nationally because it’s interesting, Montana at 9.2%, 

Arizona at 4.5%. Why are those numbers of particular interest? Because it 

tells us two things that are important to OFCCP. One, among the general 

population Native Americans make up 2%. It’s a smaller portion of our 

population and it’s a portion that has been discriminated against throughout 

American history.
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So one thing that OFCCP does is we prevent discrimination based on race, 

color, and or ethnicity and that includes preventing discrimination against 

Native Americans for being Native Americans. We are there and we fight 

against that, so one thing we have done in the INAERP program is we are 

trying to ensure that in every one of these audits that we do, particularly ones 

where we have a Native American population at a company, even if it’s only 

one or 2%, we try to take a special look at those individuals to make sure they 

can be included because here's what happens. 

There are times when OFCCP will do an audit and find compensation or 

hiring discrimination in favor of one protected class let’s say for example it’s 

typically in favor of whites against other groups but it can be in favor of any 

particular group. In some areas of the country, some actually find 

discrimination in favor of Asians or others in favor of Hispanics.

So let’s say you have one where you have discrimination in favor of Hispanics 

and against all of the groups -- whites, African-Americans, Asians, et cetera. 

Let’s say that that’s what you have okay? Each one of those groups tends to 

have enough people that we can... we use statistics to determine 

discriminations and we can put those individuals all that data into a regression 

modeling with a finding that tells us that there is a problem. 

Well because Native Americans only make up 1% to 2% you can’t always do 

that because there’s not enough Native Americans at the company to allows to 

make a statistical finding and what often agencies in the past would leave 

them out.

Well we need to stop that and that’s something that I’ve asked Theresa and 

Tina who you’re going to hear from in a little bit, Tina Williams our policy 

director, Theresa Lujan who's the head of the INAERP program I have asked 
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them no, you need to include Native Americans. 

And I told our enforcement director too, run a cohort analysis and compare 

them individually to others, make sure we're always including Native 

Americans in every settlement that we can to make sure that we're increasing 

opportunity for that group. Now that needs to be done because of the small 

percentage of Native Americans throughout the country. 

Now there’s another issue though. And this is an issue that I know that CTER 

and a lot of tribal leaders are very focused on. And the other issue is that in 

certain areas of the country there are a lot of Native Americans and they're not 

being given jobs that are commensurate with the amount of Native Americans 

there are. They’re not getting the same opportunity that other large groups of 

people in those areas are getting. 

Companies aren’t making sure that they're hiring more Native Americans on 

or near Indian reservations and that’s why we have an Indian preference 

program and that’s most helpful in states like Alaska, Oklahoma, New 

Mexico, South Dakota, Montana, Arizona, et cetera. That sort of program will 

help ensure greater opportunity for Native Americans in areas where they 

make up a larger part of the population. 

That’s where affirmative action will help bring more money to Indian country, 

more money to reservations, and OFCCP needs to be a partner with the 

TEROs and CTER in ensuring that occurs. That is our mission and that is our 

obligation as a federal agency.

I let me tell you I have talked to a lot of leadership across the country tribal 

leaders, leadership of CTER and they all tell me they say, "We need to do 

more, OFCCP you need to do more. When OFCCP is involved, we can get 
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more done for our reservation, for our Native American population. You need 

to be more involved."

So any how I can go on and on because we have a lot of people to talk today 

but what I wanted to assure you is that I get it. I’ve gone to South Dakota, 

gone to Phoenix several times as OFCCP director. I've met with Native 

American leaders, tribal leaders. I understand that we need to do more. I want 

us to do more but it has to be a top commitment of the agency and we commit 

to you to do that. 

We want to get more federal contractors participating in the INAERP 

program. Just think if every one of these federal contractors or a significant 

proportion of them participated in an Indian Preference Program. How many 

more jobs would be available for Native Americans? That can make a huge 

impact. So we’ve got to do it. We have to certainly try, and we need your 

help.

So that leads me to just a couple of the points I wanted to make. So we have 

the INAERP program. Tina Williams is our OFCCP Policy Director. She’s 

going to be speaking to you a little bit about the program. Tina has my full 

confidence. I recently appointed her as the director. 

She's done many other jobs in her life at OFCCP. She’s an attorney by trade,

really strong public servant who has devoted her life to civil rights in her 

career and she's going to be talking a little bit and you’re going to see that 

she's a very strong speaker powerful speaker and will touch on although I 

know forgive me Tina, because I know that this is not one of those speeches 

because you’re going to be more informative. 

But she is, I just want you to know that she’s a strong advocate for minority 
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communities our Native Americans and for other groups and so I’m so proud 

that she's our policy director.

And then number two, and it’s really not number two. It's at the same level we 

have Theresa Lujan. She has been the leader for INAERP program since it 

was founded by Tom Dowd, who is Hopi. He was a director, the acting 

director of OFCCP before I was director. And he was a deputy for a long time 

and someone who's a mentor to me and I’m very proud to continue to focus on 

their INAERP because it was a labor of love for him and it's something that he 

cared deeply about.

Theresa has taken that vision and made it into an incredible program today 

and she I - want you to know she has my full 100% support as well and so if 

you have any issues with federal contractors or with the Indian Preference 

Program please call Theresa. If you’d like her to come speak anywhere 

frankly, she has my full support. I know right now we're in COVID so we're a 

little limited so I’d have to be virtually but she has my full support. She has 

the resources of the agency behind her. 

So I’ve given are basically an open check. And you obviously have to be 

careful when you say that in the federal government but I’ve given her the full 

support of the agency request, like this is a top priority for us. So please know 

that she has that. She’s going to talk to you in a few minutes too. And she is a 

powerful advocate for Native Americans.

The last thing I wanted to say is that we’ve had a lot of accomplishments with 

INAERP. We conducted 11 stakeholder events with federal contractors and 

tribal entities in FY 2020. In FY '19 before that some of you may know this -

we had a wonderful town hall event in Phoenix with - where many people got 

together. We also had representatives from HHS there. 
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And from – we had Jeannie Hovland, Commissioner, a lot of individuals 

interested in making more opportunity for Native Americans in this country 

and ensuring the full inclusion of Native Americans in this country while also 

recognizing their tribal rights and respecting that.

And then a couple other things we created a frequently asked questions on 

Indian preference that include guidance and have lawful extent preference and 

employment to Native Americans. We’ve posted best practices on the Web 

site. We’re creating an inclusive workforce for Native Americans and we have 

improved collaboration with the DOL Office of Apprenticeship. All of this is 

because of Tina and Theresa and I want to thank them both, really they are the 

ones who should be speaking. 

I’ve already spoken over my time but I wanted you to see that as the director I 

have a lot of passion for this. That’s important. Some of you may know that I 

have been nominated to be the OPM inspector general and let me tell you I’m 

going to be focusing on Native American issues there as well if I get 

confirmed. That’s going to be a priority for me.

But I wanted you to know, even though if I leave and someone else comes in,

because of Tina and Theresa, this is going to continue to be a major priority 

for the agency for years to come. I have the full support, I want you to know,

I have the full support of the Secretary of Labor and the Deputy of Secretary 

of Labor in these initiatives. This entire administration frankly has been 

supportive of me in doing this so with that, I want to turn it over to Tina 

Williams. Tina take it away.

Tina Williams: Yes absolutely. Thank you very much and good afternoon to everybody that is 

participating on this call with us today. You know, I won’t go into a lot of 
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detail of what Director Leen mentioned but just know that I echo a lot of the 

sentiment that he shared.

You know, we are all familiar and aware that Director Leen will be leaving us 

sometime soon. With his impending departure, I just want to stress the 

importance of the INAERP program for OFCCP. As a career executive, I will 

not be leaving anytime soon and in fact. I will be staying here and working 

with Theresa Lujan as the INAERP director in her capacity. 

This has become a priority for the agency. You will see a lot of messaging 

coming from OFCCP on behalf of our INAERP program and our efforts. 

Theresa Lujan is extremely passionate about this program. As a Native 

American herself, she has shared many stories with me and others and me

after she left her reservation at the age of 17 going to college and a number of 

other things that she shared with us. She is not only knowledgeable, she has 

the passion, the dedication, and the commitment that we need to see this 

program develop into what we know it can be.

I just encourage you if you have not taken an opportunity to look at our 

landing page on our website please take the time to visit our INAERP landing 

page. Take the time to familiarize yourself with our best practices. Theresa 

and her team have worked very hard in this space in identifying best practices 

that employers can take on.

The other thing that we are committed to doing is as many of you are familiar 

with our help desk, many of you are familiar with requesting compliance and 

technical assistance from OFCCP and the supply and service space when it 

comes to the evaluation. But, know that OFCCP also provides compliance 

assistance with some of our programs as well, including INAERP. Theresa is 

there to provide a concierge type level of compliance assistance to you if it’s 
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just to answer questions, give guidance, give recommendations she can do 

that.

Take advantage of her knowledge and her skill sets. Trust me, she knows 

everybody. We have participated in a number of calls with our MOU 

counterparts with CTER. We have participated in discussions (TERO). 

Theresa has the knowledge. She knows the issues and the challenges but she 

also knows how to bridge the gap between the two.

So at this time I just want you all to know as we move forward in fiscal year 

'21 INAERP will be at the top of our priority list. I encourage you all to reach 

out to us. I encourage you all to see how we can help you. We are taking on 

and considering many ways to develop and evolve this program even as it 

relates to the enforcement side of the house.

So at this time I am going to turn it over to our expert Theresa Lujan and I just 

again thank you all very much for taking time out of your busy day during the 

pandemic to receive this information. If you have a need for Theresa to 

participate in a discussion virtually or conferences, I echo director Lee's 

message. 

I know we are dealing with some challenging times right now with the 

pandemic, but director Leen and myself have both continued to participate in 

giving presentations and Theresa is more than capable of doing so until next 

time we meet physically I’m now going to turn it over to our INAERP 

Director, Theresa Lujan. Thank you very much Theresa for allowing me to 

say a few words today.

Craig Leen Wait Theresa, before you go. This is Craig. I just want to add one thing. 

Theresa is the real deal. She has the full support of the government behind her 
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on this matter. You should reach out to her. 

I just looked on the website for the Council for Tribal Employment Rights and 

right there is a photo of Lee Adolph who's obviously the president and a 

partner of ours in a MOU and someone that I just spoke with yesterday, I 

believe and we spoke by phone and I went and visited him and he is someone 

that we care deeply about our relationship with him and with CTR and he held 

us to a very - he’s holding us to a very high standard.

He tells me he always says, "I’m going to give you an earful," and he does and 

he’s right to do it. But, it’s him sitting there signing a MOU with Theresa 

Lujan of OFCCP. She is the real deal. She has the contacts with everybody. 

She has a trust of Lee; she is a trust of me, please contact her.

Theresa, thank you for all you do. You’ve taught me so much. You’ve been 

my guide whenever we go – when we go – wherever we go, you taught me. 

You took me all around Las Vegas, she took me all around South Dakota. I 

really enjoyed being with you and I just I think you’re wonderful and you 

have our full support. So I’m looking forward to the presentation.

Theresa Lujan: Thank you both Director Leen and Director Williams for making INAERP a 

priority. We have accomplished a lot since INAERP was created back in 

2013. I was asked by OFCCP leadership in 2013 to create a program that 

focused on American Indian and Alaska native job seekers and workers.

Now this was quite an undertaking for me but well worth the effort because it 

gave me a chance to give back to the Native American population. We 

developed INAERP’s mission to advance awareness of employment rights 

and job opportunities for American Indians and Alaska Natives who work for 

or seek employment with companies doing business with the federal 
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government.

We accomplished this mission through compliance assistance and outreach to 

federal contractors and we coordinate with the federal contractors and help 

them to network with the tribes, with community-based organizations like the 

Council for Tribal Employment Rights, the local tribal employment rights 

organizations, apprenticeship programs, workforce development agencies and 

other federal agency stakeholders. 

And our federal agency stakeholders are usually the contracting officer 

representatives who will contact me and ask me how they can work with the 

tribes as they're working on their solicitation and bids for federal projects and 

for work happening on or near the Indian reservation. 

So I get a lot of requests from the different stakeholders and it keeps me not 

only busy, but it gives me the sense that individuals are interested in 

proactively working with the tribal communities across the United States. 

We still have a lot to do though. We have thousands of government 

contractors and very few have participated in the INAERP program by 

contacting me or to find out more about how they can apply Indian preference 

and the benefits of having an Indian preference program within their 

company. So today’s presentation and presentations in the future will be 

designed to explain the benefits of working with INAERP and how federal 

contractors benefit from having and utilizing Indian preference. 

So today’s key takeaways for this webinar are to define the permissible scope 

of Indian preference, to gain insight and why Indian preference and 

employment is legal, a brief overview of the regulations impacted by Indian 

preference and tips for creating a publicly announced policy and employment 
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for Native Americans. 

One of the things that you’ll hear today is my use of terms and they’re going 

to be interchangeable. You’ll hear me using the term Indian which is part of 

the code of federal regulations enforced by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and 

Indian Health Service. You’ll hear me say Native Americans. You’ll hear me 

say American Indian and Alaska Native. So these terms are all 

interchangeable and using the term Native American can be collectively, 

when I refer to Indians it's based on the way the regulations are written but if 

I’m specifically talking about the two different groups of American Indians 

and Alaska Natives, then I’ll break that out. So you’ll hear me use different 

terms and I know I get that question a lot, you know, why use different terms? 

So that’s a quick explanation of why.

So today’s presentation is a high-level overview of Indian preference and it is 

for informational purposes only. So sit back, relax and enjoy today’s 

presentation. 

Indian preference laws date back as far as 1834. During the Indian removal 

period, businesses could legally exercise an employment preference in favor 

of American Indians who were removed from their ancestral lands. This was a 

very difficult time within Indian history when the government wanted to take 

the land away from the Native Americans and move them into areas and 

entice them to take jobs in areas that they were not familiar with and they 

allowed businesses especially those that had government contracts to provide 

jobs to Native Americans.

Indian preference was incorporated into all OFCCP’s regulations in 1978 and 

the permissible scope of Indian preference applies to work on or near Indian 

reservations. So it changes from work that was happening off in areas of 
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major metropolitan areas back to the work on or near Indian reservations.

Before we discuss the principles of Indian preference, I’d like to explain how 

OFCCP defines a federal contractor and the ways the federal government 

recognizes tribes and reservation. As Craig mentioned of federal contractor is 

defined as any contractor holding a government contract or subcontract or 

federally assisted construction contract or subcontract. These are our supplies 

service contractors and our construction contractors. 

For purposes of this presentation all contractors and subcontractors who hold 

a federal contract in excess of $10,000 are subject to regulatory requirements 

under one or more of the laws enforced by OFCCP depending on the amount 

of that contract. 

A federally recognized tribe is an American Indian or Alaska native tribal 

entity that is recognized as having a government-to-government relationship 

with the United States with the responsibility, powers, limitations and 

obligations attached to that designation and is eligible for funding and services 

from the Bureau of Indian affairs.

Furthermore, federally recognized tribes are recognized as possessing certain 

inherent rights of self-government such as tribal sovereignty and are entitled 

to receive certain federal benefits, services and protection because of their 

special relationship with the United States. At present, there are 574 federally 

recognized American Indian and Alaska native tribes and villages. 

The breakdown of OFCCP’s region shows the 412 are in the Pacific region, 

93 are in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain region, 39 are in the Midwest 

region, six in the Southeast region, seven in the mid-Atlantic region and 17 in 

the Northeast region.
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The Bureau of Indian Affairs or BIA defines federal Indian reservations as an 

area of land reserved for a tribe or tribes under treaty or other agreement with 

the United States executive order or federal statute or administrative action as 

permanent tribal homelands and where the government holds title to land in 

trust on behalf of the tribe. Some reservations are the remnants of the tribe's 

original land base others were created by the federal government for 

resettlement of Indian people.

On May 16, 1988, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or EEOC 

issued a policy statement on Indian preference and its policy reads that Indian 

reservations are as defined as any federally recognized Indian tribe 

reservations including former reservations in Oklahoma, Indian allotment and 

land held by or incorporated with native groups, regional corporations and 

village corporations in Alaska under the provision of the Alaska Native 

Claims Settlement Act. OFCCP agrees with EEOC’s broad definition of an 

Indian reservation.

Now that you have an understanding of these key terms let me define Indian 

preference and how it could be applied. OFCCP has three regulations where 

Indian preference may apply to federal contractors. The principle foundation 

outlining Indian preference can be found in the exemption section of the code 

of regulations at 41 CFR 60–1.5(a)(7). Later in this Webinar we'll discuss 

how Indian preference may affect placement goals and uniform guidelines on 

employee selection procedures. 

Under the regulation, it states it shall not be a violation of the equal 

employment opportunity clause for a construction or non-construction 

contractors to extend a publicly announced reference and employment to 

Indians living on or near an Indian reservation in connection with employment 
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opportunities on or near an Indian reservation. The use of the word near 

would include all that area where a person seeking employment could 

reasonably be expected to commute to and from in the course of a workday. 

Contractors or subcontractors extending such a preference shall not, however, 

discriminate among Indians on the basis of religion, sex, or tribal affiliation, 

and the use of such a preference shall not excuse a contractor from complying 

with the other requirements contained in this chapter. 

One of the most common questions that I get about Indian preference has to 

do with the commutable distance. OFCCP does not have a defined number of 

miles for that commuting distance and the reason is because there are a 

number of areas where individuals travel great distances to commute to and 

from work on a daily basis. For example when I commute to work, I travel 18 

miles. My coworker travels 36 miles and so the reasonable commuting 

distance is based on what the average commutable distance is for employees. 

So we have to be mindful of where the location of individuals commute from 

when we’re looking at this particular portion of this regulation.

This regulation, although brief, frames what circumstances federal contractors 

can utilize in Indian preference. The next slides will provide you with 

examples of applying in your preference. So, let's take a closer look.

Federal contractors must ensure they publicly announce their intent to expand 

Indian preference. Job postings should include a statement indicating 

employment opportunities are related to the work being performed on or near 

Indian reservations, and qualified American Indians and Alaskan Natives will 

be given preference in the selection process.

There are a few best practices to ensure job advertisements reach Indians and 

Native Americans living on or near Indian reservations or their tribal land. 
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You can supplement Web-based recruitment campaigns with word-of-mouth 

and print campaigns. This will ensure those living on reservations with limited 

or no access to the internet are aware of employment opportunities.

You might consider placing announcements on tribal radio stations, 

advertising in tribal newsletters, and mailing printed job postings to tribal 

meeting halls, career centers, and vocational rehabilitation centers. Including 

American Indians and Alaska Natives in job advertisements in our company 

Web sites in a culturally respectful manner will also increase the likelihood of 

American Indian and Alaska Natives to self-identify when applying.

You could visit our website and look at the best practices for creating an 

inclusive workplace for Native Americans and also find resources for different 

organizations and stakeholders where you can utilize your publicly announced 

preference.

In order to benefit from a contractor publicly announcing their preference, 

American Indians and Alaska Natives who (have applied) for an open position 

meet the minimum qualifications of the job can be offered an opportunity to 

complete a voluntary self-identification form. This self-identification form 

does not ask about tribal affiliation. Contractors should collect selfidentification of race and ethnicity in the same manner as they would when 

Indian preference is not extended.

So, here's an example of how to apply Indian preference. A construction 

contractor is awarded a $15 million contract to complete bridge repair work 

on Interstate 10, and work is about 25 miles from an Indian reservation. The 

contractor has a need to hire workers and wants to implement Indian 

preference in hiring, which is permissible. 
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The contractor knows that the local Tribal Employment Rights Organization 

Office is an excellent source of heavy equipment construction workers. The

contractor makes a publicly-announced preference in employment for Indians 

and it is posted in the local newspaper, the job site, and in nearby 

communities. The contractor hires qualified Indians to work on this 

construction project.

Indian preference is not limited to hiring. Federal contractors maintaining 

their publicly announced Indian employment preference are permitted to 

extend such preferences to a broad array of employment actions. These 

include hiring, promotions, terminations, layoffs, reductions in force, and 

reinstatement.

Now that we have reviewed Indian preference, I'd like to give you an example 

of what a publicly announced Indian Preference policy may sound like. The 

ABC Company is a federal contractor and has employment opportunities for 

work being performed on or near the Confederate Tribes of the Colville 

Reservation located in the state of Washington. As such, we are extending a 

publicly announced preference to employ Indians as authorized by 41 CFR

60-1.5(a)(7). Applying this Indian Preference policy is not a violation of the 

Equal Opportunity clause. If you wish to be considered under our Indian 

Preference policy, please ensure you self-identify when applying for a job 

opening with the ABC Company.

Now, I would like to talk a little bit about placement goals. Under OFCCP's 

Regulations Act 41 CFR 60-2.16(f), contractors can address their placement 

goals to reflect the fact that they extend a publicly announced Indian 

employment preference. OFCCP's INAERP staff is available to assist you 

with how to reflect Indian preference in your placement goals.
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For example, if a contractor applied Indian preference and has established a 

goal for minorities at 10%, they can adjust the goal to 13% because of the 

high Native American population in the labor market area.

Next, I'll discuss the impact of Indian preference on the uniform guidelines on 

employee selection procedures. The uniform guidelines on employee selection 

procedures do not restrict any obligation imposed or (right) granted by federal 

law to use those to extend the preference in employment to Indians living on 

or near an Indian reservation in connection with employment opportunities 

(for) that or near that Indian reservation.

For example, if a contractor implements Indian preference, and the high 

selection rate of qualified American Indians and Alaska Native applicants is 

the sole factor causing all this impact to other race groups, this would not be 

in violation of the Equal Opportunity clause.

This brings us to end of the presentation. I know that it was brief, but it was a 

good chance for you to get an overview and we encourage you to go to our 

website and to also read our Indian Preference Frequently Asked Questions. 

Our Web site has a number of items that are new. We've refreshed it to make 

it more user friendly and as we move forward in 2020, and into 2021, we're 

going to be expanding the information that we provide to the contractors.

But, because this is a general overview, I really encourage you to contact me 

and to work with me so that we can do some one-on-one exchange of 

information. I can get you to the right contacts because I will tell you from 

experience - and this is 35 years of experience working in the federal 

government with agencies that work directly with tribes, and my 26 years of 

working with OFCCP - sending a letter to a tribal office asking for applicants, 

or to recruit, does not work. 
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You have to be able to build the trust with the contractors and the tribal 

officials and those that work in the Tribal Employment Rights office. These 

are areas that are very important for you to be successful when you apply 

Indian preference. Based on the needs that your company has, those are your 

specific company needs, and it's why we do one-on-ones with the contractors 

and we get them to the right sources with the tribes because every region is 

different -- working with the tribes is different and just different populations.

We have to make sure that we work in concert with the tribes and we also

want to make sure that if you are bidding on any scheduled projects, or you're 

bidding on any federal contracts with your client service contractor and you 

know that the work is going to be performed on or near an Indian reservation, 

please give me a call.

I will help you do some research with the tribes and so that you know, like, if 

the tribe has a Tribal Employment Rights office, that you have to sign 

compliance plans with the TERO office, what their laws are in relation to 

working on the reservations because remember, these are sovereign nations 

and they have their own laws, regulations, and ordinance that if you come 

onto the reservation, you must abide by the laws that the tribe enforces.

So, we want to make sure that you're comfortable working with the tribes. We 

want to make sure that you understand the benefits of working with the tribal 

communities and how the benefit of having Indian Preference programs and 

working with INAERP is going to make you successful in your recruitment 

efforts as you move forward.

So, I really look forward to hearing from all of you on the call today to see 

how I can help you. I will tell you that the first day that we launched the 
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refresh of our website, I had 20 contractors in one hour contacting me for 

assistance and so I'm working very hard to get them the information that they 

need so that we can continue this great work that we do in OFCCP and in 

INAERP.

So with that, (Charles), if you could, please open the phone lines so that we 

can start taking calls.

Coordinator: We will now begin the Question and Answer session of today's call. If you 

have a question today, please press Star 1 and make sure you record your 

name. Again, it's Star 1 to ask a question. One moment while we (go with) 

questions.

(Theresa): Okay. Do we have any calls there, (Charles)?

Coordinator: Showing no questions on the phone at this time.

(Theresa): Okay. I do have a question here on the chat and it says, "What if your 

company is not located in one of these identified regions?" So, first, we have a 

list of all of the federally recognized tribes and this list was published by the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs, and we can map the location of the tribes and the 

counties where the tribal lines are located and do a comparison with where 

your company is located.

And keep in mind, the regulation says, "On or near an Indian reservation." So, 

to give you an example of how Indian Preference may or may not apply, if 

you are in the Chicago area, there are no tribes on or near Chicago, or within

or near Chicago. In Philadelphia, there are no tribes within the Philadelphia 

area, so Indian Preference wouldn't apply in those particular areas.
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However, what we would do is we would say even though you don't have to 

have an Indian Preference policy in these particular areas, we encourage you 

to work with the Indian centers.

So, when I was talking about the Indian Removal Act, one of the things that 

happened is that as more Native Americans moved into the major 

metropolitan areas, they needed a community resource center for them to go 

to and that was the establishment of the Indian centers.

The first two Indian centers established in the United States were in Chicago 

and in Phoenix and I know working personally with both of these Indian 

centers, they provide resources and information to individuals representing 

over a hundred tribes across the United States, and they work with thousands 

of individuals on an annual basis to provide them with job training, resume 

writing, skills assessment, seeking work, looking at their transferable skills 

and how that relates to work that's being done by companies. 

We are sending them back to school so that either they can get retraining or 

education and going back to school does not mean just a college or university, 

it may mean going to a technical school. It may mean getting involved with an 

apprenticeship program so they do a lot of work for the Native Americans that 

live in these major metropolitan areas.

I mentioned Chicago and Philadelphia, Dallas is another metropolitan area 

that does not have any Indian reservations on or near that particular area, but 

those three areas have a very large Native American population. So, there's 

still ways that you can recruit and be proactive with those particular 

communities, and I can give you information if you're looking to find out if 

your facility is on or near an Indian reservation. (Unintelligible).
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"How would an organization go about determining they are in compliance if 

indeed there are hidden populations of Native Americans that one not might 

know about?" Well, this is - the Census Bureau is our key resource that we 

use to get the demographics on the Native American population. They work 

very closely with the tribes to get this information, the statistics on age and 

everything that they get from us that live in a major metropolitan area, they 

also get from the tribes and they have a specific department that is related to -

or that is focused on the Native American population. They have a website 

that is devoted to the Native American population where you can get the 

demographic information, plus, they also have what is called, "My Tribal 

Area" where you can actually look up a reservation and get statistics 

specifically for that reservation, and they do a lot of tables and charts.

You can contact the Census Bureau’s Native American Office, their division 

that they have, and they can put together the demographics for you within the 

geographical area that you're looking for.

So, they've been our source and we've had training from the Census Bureau on 

how to look up information, but they are available to help contractors with this 

information as well.

Okay, (Charles), any questions?

Coordinator: Yes. Yes, we have one question from (Mike Nathanson). Your line is now 

open.

(Theresa): (Hi, Michael).

(Mike Matheson): Hey, (Theresa). Hi, how are you? It's (Mike Nathanson) from Native America 

Today and you're on a speakerphone here, but can you hear me okay, if I 
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may?

(Theresa): Yes. Yes.

(Mike Matheson): Thank you. Thanks so much for all of your support and the only question I 

had is, you brought up a number of places where people can outreach, with 

your guidance, you can refer them to Indian centers, is commonly known as 

community groups, which have partnership programs and training programs. 

But how about the colleges and universities as a potential network for some of 

your - the contractors, if I may? Do you provide any of the information on the 

community colleges run by, for the most part, the tribes?

(Theresa): Yes.

(Mike Matheson): As well as information on popular schools like Oklahoma State, Arizona 

State? UCLA is an example that have high concentrations of Native 

Americans. Is that available as well?

(Theresa): Yes.

(Mike Matheson): Potential information?

(Theresa): Yes. On our website under the Resources link, we have a link to the 37 

accredited tribal colleges and universities. This particular list came through 

the White House initiative on tribal colleges and universities and we were 

working closely with them before the pandemic hit where we were identifying 

the programs that they had and then we started doing more research on the 

major colleges and universities that did have high Native American 

populations and that had specific programs that were related to this 

population.
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So, for example, we have been networking for the last couple of years with 

Arizona State University and their Construction in Indian Country program. 

We have spoken with them on a number of occasions and in their last 

conference that they had, they invited the Tribal Employment Rights 

representative to come and speak about TERO at the conference and you 

know, we're just continually building on the resources that we have.

But the tribal colleges and universities, this is a great opportunity for our 

supply service contractors to start networking with them. A lot of them are 

involved with the STEM educational program...

(Mike Matheson): Yes.

(Theresa): ...as well as the IT work that is, you know, becoming very - a primary focus 

within the United States. So, they've got so many different programs and that's 

why we're here to help, that is why, when Tina said that we can provide this 

concierge service, we're going to pinpoint areas that will help the contractors 

be successful.

(Mike Matheson): Thank you, thank you very much, yes. These schools seem to be great places 

for recruiting and an opportunity for many employers to create apprenticeship 

programs with, if I may - or internships - internship programs for summer.

And a lot of those kids at those schools that - or even outside of the tribal 

colleges - there's organized Native American coalitions at Harvard and Yale 

and Michigan State, and a lot of those kids return back to their reservations to 

be potential hires.

All right, I'm babbling. It's a pleasure speaking and thank you so much for 
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answering the question.

(Theresa): You're welcome. Next question?

Coordinator: As a reminder, please press Star 1 to ask a question. I'm showing no questions 

at this time. As a reminder, please press Star 1 to ask a question.

(Theresa): Okay. While we wait for another question, I have one on the chat. It says, 

"Can you talk a little bit more about the placement goals and increasing the 

overall minority rate you mentioned?" Federal contractors who are required to 

develop and maintain Affirmative Action programs, they're required to create 

placement goals in areas where particular minority groups are underutilized 

and, you know, you have the overall minority goal.

But if you have an Indian Preference program, you can highlight that in your 

placement goals and what your goals - what goals you want to establish for 

that particular job group. And this is a good way that I believe that your 

placement goals can reflect the proactive steps that you're taking when you're 

- when you are implementing Indian preference.

And if you need more specific information about the placement goals, please 

reach out to me and we can talk about your goals for your particular company.

Woman 1: Okay. I have one - another question that says, "What about the federal 

government agencies that want native preference?" So, there are two federal 

agencies, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service that require 

applicants to provide their certificate of Indian blood in order to qualify under 

the Indian Preference program that they have and the certificate of Indian 

blood is usually signed either by the top official of the tribe or through the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs agency that that that particular tribe is covered under. 
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So, they require very specific information about an individual to show that 

they're qualified under their Indian Preference programs.

The regulations that OFCCP are (silent) about utilizing certificate of Indian 

blood and tribal identification. And usually what happens is that the Tribal 

Employment Rights offices, they gather all this information in advance. So, by 

the time that you are ready to start recruiting and hiring, they have already 

verified the person's eligibility under Indian Preference.

(Theresa): Let's see.

Coordinator: I do have a question that has come on the phones.

(Theresa): Okay.

Coordinator: This question comes from (Andrew Williams). Your line is now open.

(Andrew Williams): Good afternoon.

(Theresa): Good afternoon.

(Andrew Williams): My question is, (unintelligible) for this program (unintelligible)?

(Theresa): I'm sorry, you broke up. Could you repeat?

(Andrew Williams): I said my question is, was there (any) (unintelligible)?

(Theresa): I apologize. You - you still broke - I got the part about "my question is" and 

then you broke up again.
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(Andrew Williams): Will there be any (work) (unintelligible)?

(Theresa): Will there be any - I got that part. Will there be any...

Coordinator: Seems to be a bad connection.

(Theresa): Yes.

Coordinator: Anyone else who has a question, please press Star 1. Showing no questions on 

the phone at this time.

(Theresa): Okay. I have a good question on the chat. It says, "Would you suggest that a 

specific question asking if someone identifies as an American Indian or 

Native Alaskan be added to the application if the federal contractor decides to 

(afford) an Indian Preference since most self-identification information is 

treated confidentially?" I would not add it to the application because you are 

inviting individuals to apply under this particular preference.

So, if you have an Indian Preference program, you have to develop a policy on 

how you're going to gather this information. And as I mentioned earlier, our 

regulation is brief. 

And what we would need to find out from your company is how you normally 

get applicants to apply, especially if it's online, and we would need to work 

directly with you to make sure that your application process and your request 

for information for individuals to apply under Indian Preference is done so 

legally.

And I think this is a good question that we could probably put in our 

Frequently Asked Questions as we update them. So, I don't want to dance 
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around this question, but I do want to make sure that we have a legally sound 

answer to this individual who asked the question.

So, we'll post that question after we have vetted it through our Solicitor's 

Office and I have spoken with Director Williams about this question.

Man 1: Great.

(Theresa): All right. All right. (Charles), are there any other questions?

Coordinator: I'm showing no questions on the phone at this time. And as a reminder, you 

may press Star 1 to ask a question.

(Theresa): Okay. We have about four minutes left for today's webinar. (Tina) or (Craig), 

would you like to close out or say a few, you know, just say a few words or 

(unintelligible) comments?

(Craig): Certainly, I'd be happy to. (Tina), do you want to say anything first? No? Let 

me - let me, and actually to (unintelligible), I - (Tina) and I talked during your 

presentation, we had some additional ideas for INAERP and some other 

things, so she's probably working on those right now.

But the - but let me say a few words. The - first of all, I thought that was an 

outstanding presentation. Thank you, (Theresa). I think everyone can see what 

a comprehensive program INAERP is and how helpful it can be to the Native 

American community in the United States, and really, in the end, how helpful 

it can be to the United States as well because any time you increase equal 

employment opportunity, you increase productivity, you bring - you include 

more people in the workforce and that ends up increasing growth.
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And it's good for the country -- diversity, inclusivity, reaching out to Native 

American communities, making sure that we're fully involving them in the 

economic, and indeed where they are -- because I'll tell you when I spoke with 

Lee, with President Adolph, he told me that there's a lot of Native Americans 

ready to work and that it's more an issue with the companies, with the 

contractors who are not going there and working with those employees.

There is quite a source of employees available and we would really like to see 

OFCCP, through our INAERP program, we would really like to see a great 

expansion of the Indian Preference program. So, you're going to see a lot from 

us over the next year.

We're going to be reaching out to a lot of contractors. We're going to be trying 

to incorporate Indian Preference into some of our settlement agreements like 

Early Resolution Conciliation Agreements that we're doing and other types of 

settlement agreements with companies where they discriminated. 

And in situations where we find discrimination against Native Americans, 

we're going to ask the company, as part of the settlement, to do an Indian 

Preference, if for those parts that their companies that are on or near an Indian 

reservation, and we are going to be making this a primary focus for years to 

come.

Like I said, I have the full support of the administration, of the Secretary of 

Labor. INAERP is a key priority for the agency. I think if you ask anyone who 

worked at OFCCP, they would tell you we talked about INAERP all the time. 

We need to be doing more for the Native American community as a federal 

agency. We need to show President Adolph that we have heard (them) and we 

have heard the Native American community and we know we need to do 

more.
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And I can tell you, I think you can see with (Theresa) and with the tremendous 

amount of authority and support she's been given, we have full trust in her. 

She can do things. If you need a federal official to come to a TERO to speak 

or come to talk to a company because they're discriminating, or whatever it 

may be, you have your person. You have (Theresa). She is there, she has the 

full support of our agency, and she has my full support. But more than me, the 

agency.

So, please, utilize her. I know how much she loves the INAERP program. 

She's put so much into it and I feel proud of the program and of (Theresa), and 

it's just such a pleasure to work with her and she's really an example of what a 

public servant should be.

So, (Theresa), thank you for everything you're doing. Please keep up the great 

work. I'm hoping we can expand INAERP and maybe you could even have a 

few others that can go around over time. That's the goal. So please utilize it. 

That's the way we're going to be able to expand it, is if companies use it, if the 

tribal leaders cite it and mention it, and ask for more of it, and contact the 

agency, that's the way it's going to work, and that's the way it's going to 

improve and I do believe it will continue to make a major impact for years to 

come. 

So with that, and then the last thing I should say is, look, you know better than 

we do, I mean, Theresa knows a lot obviously, but you know better than I do. 

You know better than the federal government, what you need. So if you're not 

doing it right, or you think there's something we can add, send a message to 

Theresa. 
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Please email me as well. My email address is Lean, L-E-E-N.Craig, C-R-A-IG at DOL.gov. I'm the director. Even if I end up going to OPM, if I'm

confirmed for that, please email Theresa and Tina. Tina is our Policy Director, 

and that's a very powerful post, and she's a career official. So both Theresa

and Tina are career officials. So this is going to be going on for years to come. 

Email them. Theresa, did you give them your email address?

Theresa: Yes. It's on the screen.

Craig Leen: Oh, it was on the slide. Yes.

Theresa: Yes, and I've already gotten 15 messages, so thank you.

Craig Leen: Oh, okay. Wait a minute. Maybe don't email her so much. No, I'm kidding. 

I'm kidding. You know what, email her some more. Let's get up to 30. But 

Theresa, we may need to be getting you some more support. But, please email 

her. Theresa is wonderful. She will be there for you as you all will be. 

Theresa, is there anything I missed?

Theresa: No. I know that Tina is on.

Craig Leen: On, Tina.

Tina Williams: One thing that I think we would add is ...

Craig Leen: Tina, please.

Tina Williams: Yes, absolutely. Another one is a gentleman attempting to answer his question 

by phone. Sir, if you wouldn't mind, just send your question through this web 
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chat. For those of you whose questions I can't see, you can expect that Theresa

and I will craft some responses, and we will get them posted. We can also 

notify you as soon as I scan through our stakeholder messaging.

So for those of you that have questions, please now is the time to ask those 

questions to the web chat and Theresa and I will provide responses to all those 

collectively, and share those responses to all of you and our entire stakeholder 

community. In addition to having Theresa's contact information, I would like 

to give mine as well. 

Again, my name is Tina Williams. My email address is Williams, with an S 

dot Tina, T-I-N-A dot T as in Tom at DOL.gov. As the Policy Director, 

Theresa has my full support. So whatever she needs assistance with, I'm there 

to assist her. So again, questions, send through the chat. We will provide 

responses to those. 

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to either of 

us. And again, Theresa, thank you for doing such a great job and thanks all of 

you for taking time out of your day today, to participate in this very, very 

important presentation. Thank you.

Theresa: Thank you all.

Craig Leen: Take care, everybody.

Tina Williams: Yes. Thank you and Charles, we're done.

Coordinator: And this concludes today's conference. Thank you all for participating. You 

may disconnect at this time.
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END