skip to page content
Civil Rights Center
Print This Page Print This Page  Decrease Text Size Increase Text Size Text Size  Email This Page E-mail This Page
DOL Home > OASAM > Civil Rights Center
What's New In CRC

Compliance Assistance

Civil Rights Center

The Civil Rights Center (CRC) administers and enforces various Federal statutes, regulations, and Executive Orders that relate to nondiscrimination and equal opportunity. These three types of equal opportunity laws:

  1. forbid discrimination on various bases in programs and activities that receive Federal financial assistance, either from DOL itself or, under Title I of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), from another Federal department; and
  2. forbid discrimination on the basis of disability:
    1. by specified types of public entities (such as State and local governments) and
    2. in programs and activities conducted by DOL; and
  3. forbid employment discrimination within DOL itself.

CRC's work within DOL is known as "internal" activity. Its work with the Federal financial assistance recipients described above, with public entities, and with programs and activities that are conducted by DOL, is known as "external" activity.

CRC's primary external activities include:

  • reviewing whether those Federal financial assistance recipients are complying with the applicable equal opportunity laws that CRC administers;
  • investigating discrimination complaints filed against those Federal financial assistance recipients, as well as certain complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of disability by State and local governments and in DOL-conducted programs and activities; and
  • providing equal opportunity compliance assistance and training to those recipients and public entities.

CRC's primary internal activities include:

  • mediating and/or investigating discrimination complaints filed against DOL; and,
  • providing compliance assistance and training to DOL managers, supervisors, and employees, about their rights and responsibilities under the applicable equal opportunity statutes, regulations, and Executive Orders.

The About CRC page explains CRC's responsibilities and activities in more detail.
Important: CRC has no jurisdiction over, and therefore cannot investigate discrimination complaints against, private employers that are not recipients of Federal financial assistance from DOL or under WIA Title I. Those complaints should be filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Information about filing with EEOC is available here. If you would like to file a complaint about discrimination by or in a program or activity operated by an organization that receives Federal financial assistance from DOL or under WIA Title I, the Complaint Information Form that you may use is available here. If you are a DOL employee, or an applicant for a job with DOL, and would like to file a complaint, this page explains what your rights are and how the internal complaint process works.

While you are visiting the Civil Rights Center Home Page, please take a moment to complete our Customer Satisfaction Survey.