Significance of Action Taken Created the Committee on Government Contract Continued existence of, President's Committee on • Established Committee on Government Employment Policy, which replaced Truman's Fair Employment Board Created President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity merged responsibilities of the Committee on Government Employment Policy and the Committee on Government Contracts; and the thrust of compliance requirements was shifted to include the concept of "affirmative action" provided report and recordkeeping requirements had final authority for the imposition of sanctions and could recommend legal action to the Department of Justice, or recommend termination of a contract and/or debarment of the contractor • Expanded "equal pay for equal work" beyond the Federal Government to all employers subject to minimum wage requirements • Prohibited discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin in employment, voting, public accomodations or other facets of national life. • Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Significance of Action Taken • Provided a new administrative arrangement for contractors and subcontractors by removing responsibility from the President's Committee and placing it with the Secretary of Labor who in turn established the Office of Contract Compliance • Amended Executive Order 11246 to "expressly embrace discrimination on account of sex." The original order included only "race, creed, color or national origin." Extended and enlarged the policy and procedures established by Executive Order 11246 for programs in the Federal Government. The Civil Service Commission remained the agency to review and evaluate the programs, to obtain any reports it felt necessary, and to provide a grievance procedure • Established an Advisory Council on Intergovernmental Personnel Policy to study and make recommendations regarding State and local personnel policy and programs • Enacted in order to strengthen the personnel resources of State and local governments by assuring equal employment opportunity in their administrations • Amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 included employers and unions with 15 or more employees included Federal, State and local government employees gave EEOC judicial enforcement authority - altered recordkeeping requirements created the Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinating Council (EEOCC) • Provided, "no person in the United States shall on the ground of race, color, national origin or sex be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity funded in whole or in part with funds made available under this Act." • Decentralize and decategorize manpower programs, making them responsive to local needs, and at the same time to maintain necessary Federal supervision in order to insure that the national purposes would be properly carried out. Prohibited discrimination in all phases of federally-financed programs. • Gave the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration the necessary power and clear directive to establish an effective civil rights program prohibiting racial and sexual discrimination which had been occurring in local and State law enforcement units. any contract or subcontract in excess of • Amended Executive Order 11247 and provided • Provided for increasing the employment of veterans by Federal contractors and subcontractors and provided for an action plan for the employment of disabled and Vietnam era veterans within the Federal Government. 10 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Commission's original mandate extended to receiving, investigating and conciliating discrimination complaints. It had no authority to bring law suits, but had-and retains-the power to compel reporting and recordkeeping by those employers covered by the act.11 This "paperwork authority" was used sparingly at the onset, and was limited to surveys of employment practices in selected industries and geographic regions. The third and on-going state of EEO program development is marked by consolidation of earlier gains, strengthening and refining the 1964 Civil Rights Act to remedy its oversights and omissions, and placing EEO language and concepts in program legislation. Through a combination of executive orders and legislation, the policy requirements, administrative apparatus, and information systems for EEO were formed. Key points were: • Executive Order 11141 (1964) prohibited age discrimination by Federal contractors and subcontractors in hiring, promoting or terminating employees. •Executive Order 11246 (1965) had two important consequences: first, the Civil Service Commission was assigned to coordinate and enforce EEO programs dealing with Federal employment. Second, and more importantly, this executive order created a new administrative arrangement to deal with the EEO activities of Federal contractors and sub-contractors. EEO and affirmative action responsibilities formerly assigned to the President's Committee on Equal Opportunity were placed with the Secretary of Labor who, in turn, established the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).12 11 Id. 12 Secretary of Labor Order No. 26-65, October 5, 1965. The first regulations were issued May 28, 1968. 33 Fed. Reg. 104 Part 11. A private, voluntary industrial group, Plans for Progress, had formed in 1961 during the Kennedy Administration to promote Affirmative Action by its member companies. Continued on page II. • Executive Order 11247 (1965) was issued by • Executive Order No. 11375 (1967) further amended Under President Nixon, three significant changes oc- After the OFCC issued its first regulations. Plans for Progress published a pamphlet "Affirmative Action Guidelines." Designed to supplement the regulatory requirements, it prepared 'guidelines' that listed various alternative practices which industry could implement in order to develop 'affirmative action plans'. They had been reviewed with OFCC representatives. See, Plans for Progress, Affirmative Action Guidelines, 1. Sometime after this pamphlet appeared, the suggestions were transformed into actual regulations by the OFCC; some parts are almost verbatim. 60 C.P.R. 10.30 Subpart C. Thus a voluntary aid was turned into mandatory legal requirements applied against those who formulated them. While there was industry input (according to Associate Director Robert Hobson the regulations were published and comments solicited before actual implementation), nevertheless Subpart C has generated a considerable amount of paperwork and OFCCP is now recommending its abolition. This phenomenon has recurred. See, Report of the Commission on Federal Paperwork, Occupational Safety and Health, July 6, 1976, 53. Standards developed by private organizations, intended as "guidelines to industry," became OSHA standards of compliance. As noted in the report, "their assimilation into the OSHA regulatory system placed a large body of requirements on industry which had not been systematically reviewed in a government context as to practical problems of compliance and the extent of paperwork involved." One would, however, have to question whether episodes such as these encourage or discourage better, more creative interaction between Government and industry. 13 Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970, 84 Stat. 1909. 11 |