Honoring the Legacy of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
OFCCP honors and celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- father, husband, minister, civil rights leader, and champion for equality, justice and human rights.
The fight for equal opportunity in the form of better jobs and higher wages played a critical role in Dr. King’s work. OFCCP has a longstanding mission to protect workers, promote diversity through equal employment opportunity, and we enforce affirmative action applicable to federal contractors and subcontractors. COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on underserved communities, the growing recognition of systemic inequality, and calls for racial justice have brought national attention to the unfinished business of equal opportunity. On Dr. King’s birthday, OFCCP recommits to answering Dr. King’s call “to make America a better nation,” and to build on his legacy to create a more equitable future, and more equitable workplaces.
OFCCP’s work to advance equal opportunity and eradicate systemic discrimination is critical to effectively addressing the longstanding barriers embedded in many employment policies and practices. This past fiscal year, OFCCP secured more than $24 million in recoveries for over 21,000 American workers. In a recent settlement, OFCCP remedied pay disparities affecting 2,263 female, Black and American Indian employees working as unarmed security officers at AlliedBarton Security Services. In a conciliation agreement, AlliedBarton agreed to pay the affected members $1,175,000.
As our nation makes major investments in our infrastructure and recovery, we have a critical opportunity to identify barriers to equal opportunity and strengthen recruiting, hiring, pay setting and promotional practices to ensure all workers from every zip code in America can access good jobs. This month OFCCP and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission launched the Hiring Initiative to Reimagine Equity (HIRE). HIRE is a multi-year initiative that will engage a broad array of stakeholders in pursuit of a common goal – to expand access to good jobs for workers from underrepresented communities and help address key hiring and recruiting challenges.
Over the past half-century, OFCCP has helped define and defend equal opportunity in the American workplace. OFCCP will continue to work tirelessly to eliminate workplace discrimination and will collaborate with federal contractors and stakeholders to build more inclusive and equitable workplaces. All of us have a role to play in honoring Dr. King's legacy and ensuring his dream is fully realized.
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