Civil Rights Center-CRC [Department of Labor] Law and Legal Definition
Civil Rights Center (CRC) is an agency of the Department of Labor (DOL) that administers and enforces various federal statutes, regulations, and executive orders that relate to the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity. The equal opportunity laws forbid :
1. 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;
2. discrimination on the basis of disability: by specified types of public entities such as sate and local governments and in programs and activities conducted by DOL; and
3. employment discrimination within DOL itself.
The CRC carries out two types of activities namely, internal activity and external activity.
The external activities of the civil rights center include:
1. reviewing whether the federal financial assistance recipients are complying with the applicable equal opportunity laws that CRC administers;
2. investigating discrimination complaints filed against the federal financial assistance recipients; and
3. providing equal opportunity compliance assistance and training to the assistant recipients and public entities.
The internal activities include:
1. mediating and/or investigating discrimination complaints filed against DOL; and
2. 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.
Other functions carried out by the CRC are:
1. Advising the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management on DOL's overall civil rights program;
2. Developing and implementing regulations, policies, and procedures to ensure the effective implementation of the Department's responsibilities under applicable equal opportunity and nondiscrimination statutes covering programs receiving DOL financial assistance;
3. Overseeing the review of program implications of legislative proposals, new legislation, Executive Orders, regulations, or administrative actions to determine their impact on DOL's civil rights functions;
4. Monitoring, on a nationwide basis, a wide variety of programs receiving financial assistance from the DOL;
5. Planning and administering a nationwide equal opportunity compliance assistance and training program for DOL;
6. Developing policies, procedures and guidance for the Department's Equal Employment Opportunity programs;
7. Developing and monitoring a counseling and mediation system within the DOL;
8. Maintaining information systems to collect and disseminate management information on compliance and enforcement activities;
9. Developing guidelines and informational materials to inform DOL management and recipients of Federal financial assistance; and
10. Issuing show cause notices and final determinations where recipient is in noncompliance.
