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U.S. Department of Labor | December 15, 2015
Complaint
asks judge to order cooperation or ban company from federal contracting
ATLANTA –
The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit to require Cincinnati-based
Convergys Customer Management Group Inc. to submit documents detailing the
federal contractor’s affirmative action plans and supporting documents for company
facilities in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.
Filed with the department’s Office
of Administrative Law Judges, the suit requires Convergys to provide the department’s
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs with all documents and
information requested, cooperate with scheduled compliance reviews and fully
comply with the requirements of all laws enforced by the agency. If the company
fails to comply, the department seeks to cancel the company’s current federal
contracts and ban Convergys from future federal contracting.
“Convergys knew when it became a
federal contractor that it would be held to equal employment standards,” said
OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu. “Refusing to cooperate, in even the most basic
ways – providing required paperwork to the department – flies in the face of
the compact all contractors have with the American taxpayer. This agency is
prepared to take all actions necessary to correct this, up to and including
seeking to ban future government contracts for Convergys.”
This is the second lawsuit filed by
OFCCP against the company. On Oct. 23, 2015, Chief Administrative Law Judge
Stephen R. Henley held that OFCCP’s compliance evaluation scheduling process
regarding seven other Convergys facilities complied with the Fourth Amendment,
which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. To date, Convergys has
refused to comply with the judge’s recommended order and has filed exceptions
with the department’s Administrative Review Board.
The department’s latest action
seeks affirmative action plans and related documents for Convergys facilities
in Jacksonville and Tamarac, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina; Valdosta, Georgia;
and Chattanooga and Clarksville, Tennessee.
Convergys is a global customer-service
management provider that supplies the federal government with agent-assisted
and self-service software. The company has more than 125,000 employees at
locations in 22 U.S. states and 31 countries.
OFCCP enforces Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973 and
the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. As amended, these three laws make it illegal
for contractors and subcontractors doing business with the federal government
to discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex,
sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or status as a
protected veteran. For more information, please call OFCCP's toll-free helpline
at 800-397-6251 or visit http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/.
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Media Contacts:
Michael D’Aquino, 678-237-0630, daquino.michael@dol.gov
Lindsay Williams, 678-237-0630, williams.lindsay.l@dol.gov
Release No. 15-2318-ATL
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