Equal Opportunity & Accommodations

Equal Opportunity is the Law

It is against the law for this recipient of Federal financial assistance to discriminate on the following bases:

• Against any individual in the United States, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, sex stereotyping, transgender status, and gender identity), national origin (including limited English proficiency), age, disability, or political affiliation or belief; or
• Against any beneficiary of, applicant to, or participant in programs financially assisted under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, on the basis of the individual's citizenship status or participation in any WIOA Title I - financially assisted program or activity.

The recipient must not discriminate against customers in any of the following areas:

• Deciding who will be admitted, or have access, to any WIOA Title I - financially assisted program or activity;
• Providing opportunities in, or treating any person with regard to, such a program or activity; or
• Making employment decisions in the administration of, or in connection with, such a program or activity.

Recipients of federal financial assistance must take reasonable steps to ensure that communications with individuals with disabilities are as effective as communications with others. This means that, upon request and at no cost to the individual, recipients are required to provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services to qualified individuals with disabilities.

What To Do If You Believe You Have Experienced Discrimination

If you think that you have been subjected to discrimination under a WIOA Title I - financially assisted program or activity, you may file a complaint within 180 days from the date of the alleged violation with either:

Raymond Gude, Local EO Officer St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE), 1520 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63103, rgude@stlworks.com, phone: (314) 657-3585, or 

Danielle Smith, State Equal Opportunity Officer, 301 W. High Street, PO Box 1087, Jefferson City, MO 65102, Phone: (573) 751-2428, Fax: (573) 751-4088, Missouri Relay Services at 711, or

The Director, Civil Rights Center (CRC), U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave., NW Room N-4123 Washington, DC 20210 or electronically as directed on the CRC Web site at www.dol.gov/crc.

If you file your complaint with the recipient, you must wait either until the recipient issues a written Notice of Final Action or until 90 days have passed (whichever is sooner), before filing with the Civil Rights Center (see address above).

If the recipient does not give you a written Notice of Final Action within 90 days of the day on which you filed your complaint, you may file a complaint with CRC before receiving that Notice. However, you must file your CRC complaint within 30 days of the 90-day deadline (in other words, within 120 days after the day on which you filed your complaint with the recipient).

If the recipient does give you a written Notice of Final Action on your complaint, but you are dissatisfied with the decision or resolution, you may file a complaint with CRC. You must file your CRC complaint within 30 days of the date on which you received the Notice of Final Action.

Program Complaints and Grievances Procedures

WIOA regulations require each state to establish a procedure for grievances and program complaints received from participants being served by the workforce system. To seek a formal resolution, you must first file your complaint locally. This process is intended to allow for a resolution of the issue at the most local level. You must start the process by submitting your complaint within your local workforce system, either through your local OneStop Job Center or local workforce development board. You have up to one year to file a grievance. The Office of Workforce Development encourages informal resolution prior to the filing of a written complaint. If the complainant is not satisfied with the attempt at informal resolution, he or she should be encouraged to complete a General WIOA Complaint Form.

The complainant should be allowed sufficient time and technical assistance to provide a complete and clearly written explanation on his or her complaint form. If the complainant is unable to write, staff may transcribe his or her words onto the form; staff shall take care not to alter the language of the complainant. When a written complaint is received, the employee taking the complaint should review it immediately to insure completeness Care should be taken to assure the following information has been provided, especially if the complaint is not received on the General WIOA Complaint Form.

The grievance should include the following:

1. Full name, telephone number and address of the person making the complaint;
2. Full name and address of the respondent; and
3. Statement of the facts (including dates) that constitutes the alleged violation(s)
4. A statement of how you would like the matter to be resolved (e.g. if the agency finds in your favor what you would
like to see happen or to receive);
5. Any applicant, employee, participant, service provider, program recipient, or other interested party may file a
complaint alleging a violation of local WIOA programs, agreements or LWB policies and activities.

You may file your grievance with the Local Workforce Board Grievance Officer: 

Raymond Gude, Local EO Officer St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE), 1520 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63103, rgude@stlworks.com, phone: (314) 657-3585. 

Within 60 calendar days of filing your grievance, WIOA requires the local area to provide a formal hearing, if the issue is not resolved informally prior to the hearing. If you find the local hearing decision unsatisfactory, or if the local area does not respond to you in the allotted 60 days, you will have the opportunity to file a request for review by the State. At the State level, WIOA requires an opportunity for an informal resolution and hearing to be completed within 60 calendar days of the filing. If the State does not respond within the 60 days, or either party wants to appeal, WIOA allows for a formal appeal to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Federal appeals must be made within 60 calendar days of the receipt of the decision being appealed. DOL will make a final decision no later than 120 days after receiving a formal appeal. DOL will only investigate grievances and complaints arising through the established procedures. WIOA does not allow for federal intervention until the formal procedure has been followed.

Retaliation: No SLATE employee, recipient or sub-recipient may discharge, intimidate, retaliate, threaten, coerce or discriminate against any individual because the individual has filed a discrimination complaint or otherwise participated in the investigation of a discrimination complaint.

To obtain forms for filing the complaint, visit 
https://jobs.mo.gov/community/equal-opportunity

Accommodations

If you are a person with a disability and need assistance to access programs and services offered at our Center, please contact our Equal Opportunity Officer:

Raymond Gude, Local EO Officer St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE), 1520 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63103, rgude@stlworks.com, phone: (314) 657-3585.

How to report criminal fraud, waste and abuse under WIOA?

Criminal Fraud, Waste and Abuse Information and complaints involving criminal fraud, waste, abuse or other criminal activity must be reported immediately through the Department's Incident Reporting System to the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Room S5514, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210, or to the corresponding Regional Inspector General for Investigations, with a copy simultaneously provided to the Employment and Training Administration. The Hotline number is 1-800-347-3756. The Web site is http://www.oig.dol.gov/contact.htm. Complaints of a non-criminal nature may be handled under the procedures set forth in § 683.600 or through the Department's Incident Reporting System.