Major Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Programs for the Private Sector Should Be Consolidated

Two major federal programs evaluate equal employment opportunity activities of many of the nation's employers: (1) the title VII program authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and administered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and state and local fair employment practice agencies; and (2) the contract compliance program established to carry out Executive Order 11246 administered by the Department of Labor.

Many federal contractors have undergone equal employment evaluations under both title VII and the contract compliance programs. About 50 percent of the contractors evaluated were under both programs. About half of those evaluated under both programs experienced overlap, and about 60 percent had problems with duplicate reporting and paperwork. Factors which caused the evaluation of the same contractors under both programs included: (1) dual jurisdiction; (2) different approaches and methodologies used by the two programs; and (3) a concentration on firms with a large number of employees. As presently operated, title VII and contract compliance programs have resulted in frustration among the people the programs are designed to assist, inefficient use of the government's resources, discriminatory practices going unchecked because many employers have not been evaluated under either program, and dissatisfaction and confusion among contractors which have fostered negative attitudes toward the government's equal employment opportunity efforts.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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