EQUAL OPPORTUNITY DIRECTIVE 2001-06

TO:                Bureau and Office Equal Opportunity Officers

FROM:          E. Melodee Stith, Director
                      Office for Equal Opportunity

SUBJECT:    Executive Order 13160 Guidance Document - - Ensuring Equal Opportunity in Federally Conducted
                     Education and Training Programs

Please find attached the subject Guidance Document that was issued by the Department of Justice on January 18, 2001. This Guidance was issued pursuant to the requirements of Executive Order 13160. The Executive Order prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, disability, religion, age, sexual orientation, and status as a parent in Federally conducted education and training programs. This Equal Opportunity Directive also reiterates the Department of the Interior's (DOI) policy and commitment to providing educational environments that are entirely free from discrimination based on race, sex, color, national origin, disability, religion, age, sexual orientation, and status as a parent.

General Policy. It is Interior's policy that no individual shall be excluded from participating in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in a Federally conducted education or training program or activity conducted, operated, or undertaken by any DOI bureau of office, on the basis of race, sex, color national origin, disability, religion, age, sexual orientation, and status as a parent.

Summary. Among the topics addressed in the policy Guidance Document is the scope of covered programs, applicable legal principles, examples of discriminatory conduct, enforcement or complaints processing procedures, remedies, and reporting requirements.

Effective Date of Guidance Document. January 18, 2001.

Complaint Processing Procedures. The Executive Order covers all people involved in DOI federally conducted education or training programs. Effective immediately, all DOI bureaus and offices are directed to establish procedures for processing complaints under the authority of Executive Order 13160. In order to comply with the requirements of the Executive Order, all bureau and office procedures for receiving and addressing complaints must be in place by April 18, 2001. In addition, all DOI bureaus and offices are directed to take immediate steps toward establishing an outreach program to proclaim the Executive Order's nondiscrimination policy in terms of their federally conducted education or training programs including the procedures for filing covered complaints.

To ensure Department-wide compliance with the requirements of the Executive Order, within 60 days of the date of this Directive, we request that each bureau or office report to the Departmental Office for Equal Opportunity on the outreach steps that have been taken to inform all education and training components within the bureau's or office's jurisdiction, including beneficiaries, of DOI's nondiscrimination policy and enforcement procedures under the Executive Order.
 

ATTACHMENT - Call 202-208-6647
 

INQUIRIES:    Melvin C. Fowler, Civil Rights Staff Assistant, Departmental Office for Equal Opportunity, (202) 208-3455