Ensuring Suppliers Abide by Employment Laws

Ignorance is definitely not a defense. Employers are responsible for Equal Employment Opportunity compliance by the staffing agency. The organization cannot claim that it was unaware of the staffing agency violating any EEO laws as a defense for discriminatory behaviors as seen in a recent case.

On June 29, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that BP Exploration and Production Inc. entered into a voluntary resolution regarding an EEOC investigation regarding temporary workers who were hired to help clean up following the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

The EEOC investigated after women complained that they were not considered for the cleanup work by BP’s staffing provider because they were women.

BP maintains that it has done nothing wrong and is working closely alongside the EEOC to ensure measures are put into place to reduce the likelihood of future non-compliance with EEO laws by contractors.

Terms of Agreement:

BP and its contractors will pay up to $5.4 million to a class of women in the states covered by the resolution. Any undistributed funds will be donated to a Gulf-area charity which benefits women in the workplace.

Best Practices for Companies:

This case brings to light several issues that contractors must face when utilizing staffing agencies to meet temporary or long-term needs. According to the EEOC, “an employment agency, such as a temporary staffing agency or a recruitment company, is covered by the laws we enforce if the agency regularly refers employees to employers. This is true even if the employment agency doesn’t receive payment for this service, and the agency is covered no matter how many employees it has.”

But as this case highlights, the end client shares responsibility if the staffing firm violates equal opportunity laws. Therefore, the client must ensure the end client is responsible for EEO compliance by the staffing agency

Likewise, a company cannot ask its staffing suppliers to discriminate on their behalf. For example, if a bank hires a staffing agency to refer people to work as tellers, they cannot ask the agency to screen out females, or persons over 40, or anyone other class protected by labor laws.

In order to ensure suppliers’ compliance, it is worth the extra effort to put language in their contracts ensuring that they are abiding by Title VII of the Civil Right Act as well as all other EEO laws, utilizing the state employment office as required, utilizing self-identification forms for gathering race/ethnicity and gender, and maintaining proper applicant flow and other support records for the required period.

To see more information regarding employment agency coverage, visit http://www.eeoc.gov/employees/coverage_employment_agencies.cfm

The EEOC also offers guidance on the use of temporary employees and how it applies to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended. See http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/guidance-contingent.html, as well as enforcement guidance on EEO laws to contingent workers placed by temporary employment agencies. See http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/conting.html

Julia Mendez

Julia Mendez
Julia Méndez, CAAP, PHR, CELS is principal business consultant, Peoplefluent Research Institute. She can be reached at Julia.Mendez (at) peoplefluent (dot) com

Julia Mendez

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