Anti-Discrimination Executive Order for Federal Contractors

Background and Scope

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed Executive Order 11246, which forbids most government contractors from discriminating against their employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Order also requires covered contractors to implement affirmative action programs to ensure that all employees are provided with equal employment opportunities.

The order generally covers all federal government contractors and federally-assisted contractors and subcontractors who do more than $10,000 worth of business with the federal government in one year. The affirmative action provisions have more specific requirements that are set forth below.

Requirements

Specifically, Executive Order 11246 requires covered employers to ensure that they are not making any employment decisions based upon an employee's or applicant's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Order requires placement of an equal opportunity clause in each covered contract.

The regulations implementing the Order require non-construction employers with 50 or more employees and $50,000 or more worth of government contracts to develop and implement a written affirmative action program. For construction contractors, the Department of Labor's Employment Standards Administration's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) establishes the affirmative action each covered contractor must take.

The OFCCP establishes national goals for different categories of employees. For example, since 1980, the OFCCP has set a national goal of 6.9 percent for women in construction. These goals are intended to be representative of the number of qualified applicants in a particular job market. They do not create a quota system that contractors must meet. Instead, contractors must act in good faith to meet the goals. The goals serve as a measuring tool for the effectiveness of a given affirmative action program.

Enforcement

The Order gives the Secretary of Labor the responsibility for overseeing its implementation. The Secretary has designated the OFCCP as the branch of the Department of Labor tasked with enforcing the Order. The OFCCP investigates claims that contractors are violating the terms of the Order and the Equal Employment Opportunity clauses of their contracts.

The regulations authorize the Solicitor of Labor, Associate Solicitor for Labor Relations, and Civil Rights Regional Solicitors and Regional Attorney, upon a referral from the OFCCP, to institute enforcement proceedings by filing a complaint against a violator of the Order. Violators of the Order may lose their current government or government-funded contracts. They may also be barred from participating in future federal contracts for a certain number of years.

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