This workshop focuses on Methods of Administration (MOA) compliance and will provide an overview of the regulatory requirements MOA recertification  requirements of WIA.  The session is designed for State Equal Opportunity Officers and other State workforce agency EO staff.  Workshop participants will learn how to prepare an MOA submission that complies with the two-year recertification review criteria.  There will be a discussion of current problems that are common to many of the MOAs submitted for review under the regulatory requirement for recertification every two years.  A primary goal of this workshop is to provide a foundation for One-on-One MOA Compliance Assistance consultations for State Equal Opportunity Officers.

One-on-One MOA Compliance Assistance Consultations

This session provides one-on-one consultations for State Equal Opportunity Officers and EO staff who are responsible for preparing the State’s submission for recertification of its Methods of Administration (MOA).  The CRC staff  MOA Reviewer will be available to provide technical assistance, tailored specifically for each State, on an individual basis.  Participants will have the opportunity to ask specific questions about the recertification of their State’s MOA.  The goal of this session is to enable the participants to gain a better understanding of how to improve the quality of their MOA submissions, increasing the possibility that those submissions will be approved.

Technical assistance will be provided on an appointment basis and sign-up information will be provided at the conference registration desk.

Religious Discrimination, Reasonable Accommodations
for Religious Beliefs and Religious Practices

This workshop will explore legal issues surrounding selective hiring or retention of employees of certain religions, as well as a range of challenging issues that are unique to this area of practice.  It will provide guidance in learning about what treatment or behaviors are acceptable and discuss the legal requirements to accommodate the religious beliefs and practices of employees and applicants.

Harassment in the Workplace

Harassment represents one of the most destructive issues faced by the workforce development system today.  This interactive workshop is designed to assist participants to understand the legal context of all types of harassment.  In addition to learning how to distinguish the various forms of harassment, participants also will gain a practical understanding of the applicable legal standards. 

Drafting Discrimination Complaint Determinations

This workshop is designed to enhance your skills and ability in drafting a determination on a discrimination complaint.  It is essential that a written decision issued on a complaint fully address the complainant's discrimination claim.  The workshop presenter will provide techniques that will enable the writer of a determination to accurately present the relevant facts, and analyze those facts against the legal standard for proving a claim, in a comprehensive manner that supports the conclusion of the determination.

New Issues for Older Workers:  Applying the Age Discrimination in Employment Act

As baby boomers retire, workplace experts warn that there are too few younger workers to replace them.  Despite this need to keep them in the labor pool, and the workers’ increasing need to stay for economic reasons, workplace age discrimination remains prevalent.  Come hear an overview of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, as well as how it is evolving in light of recent regulations and the Supreme Court’s unusually ADEA - heavy docket. 

An Introduction to LEP

An essential, complete workshop about serving persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) for those new to equal opportunity and nondiscrimination compliance activities!  An excellent, updated presentation for those more familiar with the requirement to provide meaningful access to LEP persons!  In addition to thoroughly reviewing the Department of Labor’s LEP guidance and related materials, we will discuss compliance and enforcement within the specific context of employment-related training and services.  Come prepared to ask questions and receive answers!

Discrimination Law Update

This workshop will demonstrate a survey of the recent developments in employment discrimination law, highlighting Supreme Court and federal court opinions relating to Title VI, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and disability laws.  The newly enacted Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act will also be addressed. 

Distance Learning: Texas and Missouri Share Innovative “Best Practices”

This session will present two methods for developing and delivering training about Equal Opportunity discrimination complaint process procedures to recipients of One-Stop delivery systems.  From a compliance perspective, these methods have proven to be successful and are designed to eliminate the need for costly travel and overall individual training expenses.
Distance education, or distance learning, is a field of education that focuses on technology, and instructional systems design that deliver training and resources to individuals who are not physically on site.

Serving the Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker (MSFW) through the  
One-Stop Center

This workshop will focus on the types of services available to Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers (MSFWs) at One-Stop Career Centers.  It will explain the programs specifically designed to serve MSFWs, such as the National Farmworker Jobs Program, and explain how programs offered by the rest of the partners who make up the One-Stop delivery system can be of particular benefit to MSFWs.

By the Numbers: Suggested Tips for Data Analysis

This workshop will include discussion about what data to analyze and what measurements to use. Different examples of reports will be presented.  Employment Service data such as referrals, wages, entered employment, as well as unemployment data on claimant determinations, will be reviewed.   How much data is needed to determine an accurate analysis will also be discussed. Also discussed will be the writing of a monitoring report.  This workshop will also provide an overview of data that can assist the states, programs and communities review and make use of demographic trends of the unemployed.

Compliance Reviews on National Origin Discrimination/ Limited English Proficiency (LEP):
What to Expect and How to Prepare

Have your state and local entities established systems and practices to ensure meaningful access for persons not proficient in English? In this workshop, representatives from CRC will discuss tried and tested approaches to monitoring compliance with legal requirements related to limited English proficiency.  Audience members will gain insight into agency processes and expectations in the compliance review process, and suggestions for preparing for a compliance review.  

Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)

In May 2008, President George Bush signed into law the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which prohibits discrimination based on genetic information in health insurance and employment.  This workshop will review what GINA requires, concentrating on what the Act will mean for the One-Stop system.

Addressing Alcohol and Drug Use: Challenges at the One Stop Centers

One Stop Career Centers sometimes face challenges as they help customers who experience substance abuse issues.  All too often, there seems to be a lack of clear understanding of how substance abuse can be most effectively addressed.   In this workshop, we will review the impact of substance abuse on customers seeking and maintaining employment and how One-Stop Centers can more effectively address these issues.  Presenters will also review legal protections from discrimination for alcoholics and drug addicts, as well as how EEO Officers and Disability Program Navigators can help.   

Disability Awareness & Etiquette in the Workplace

At times, One-Stop staff (among many others) may be concerned that they will say or do the wrong thing when interacting with a person with a disability.  As a result, they avoid interacting with people with disabilities altogether.  These fears isolate or exclude people with disabilities in the One-Stop system from the general communication or activities in which other people are able to share.

The Disability Awareness and Etiquette presentation is designed to help eliminate these fears.  The presentation focuses on the appropriate way of interacting and communicating with people with all types of disabilities, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing, are blind or have low vision, or have mobility, speech, and/or cognitive disabilities.   In addition, this workshop will focus on innovative solutions for accessible communication through assistive technologies and software.  Basic etiquette exercises will be conducted to help underscore the importance of treating people with disabilities with respect and courtesy.

Understanding How We Deal With Change and
How to Better Manage the Change Process

Changes happen rapidly and are something that human beings are constantly faced with in modern times. Changes are never far from our doors, whether they involve breaking up with an ex, having a best friend move away, a relatives dying, losing a job, being demoted, or having something that once meant a great deal to you not turn out the way you hoped it would. Being prepared for change involves flexibility, strength of self-purpose, and belief in one's own worth. This interactive workshop will review the stages individuals move through when they experience change. It will reveal where people get stuck in the change experience, and suggest ways to successfully manage the change process for ourselves, and to help others move through the process.

Job Corps Outreach and Admission: Embracing Diversity in a Changing Global Economy

This presentation will provide an overview of the Job Corps Outreach and Admission process in its efforts to effectively address the diverse needs of Job Corps applicants.  The presentation will also address the admissions process in relation to the changing needs of the labor market.

Cultural Competency in Job Corps

This presentation will provide an overview of cultural competency as it relates to non-discrimination and equal opportunity in Job Corps. The presentation will include an interactive section that allows attendees to understand their personal cultural beliefs and how these beliefs may affect the work that they do in Job Corps.

Mediation Matters:  Basic Mediation as a Method of Alternative Dispute Resolution

Do you often deal with conflict?  Are you looking for new and more effective ways to address conflict?  Well, if so, this workshop is for you!

When a program or a work environment experiences conflict, there may be high costs to the organization.  These costs may include decreased morale; absenteeism; reorganization; loss of customers (job seekers and employers) and employees; and errors in decision-making. This workshop will introduce the mediation process, the mediator's role, and the understanding and application of mediation theory and practice.  The participants will learn how to use mediation to resolve disputes within their fields of expertise through lecture, group discussion, and role play.

Discrimination Complaint Processing and Complaint Log Maintenance

A workshop conducted by CRC staff.  The workshop will provide an overview of the regulatory requirements that govern the procedures States and/or local areas must use to process complaints alleging discrimination on one or more of the bases covered by WIA Section 188.  Strategies will also be introduced for complying with the regulatory requirements for maintenance of a discrimination complaint log.  

Creating a Successful Language Access Plan

The goal of this workshop is to engage participants in an interactive discussion of how to best provide access to limited English proficient individuals. We will discuss the elements of a successful language access plan, and work in teams on a hypothetical that requires the creation of a language access plan.

Meet and Greet Ramón Surís-Fernández, Director of the Civil Rights Center

This is an open opportunity for conference participants to meet and greet the new Civil Rights Center Director, Mr. Ramón Surís-Fernández, and discuss topics relevant to equal opportunity and civil rights.

Mediating with Young Adults

Most community mediation programs operate based on the belief that the sooner people learn basic problem solving and communication skills, the sooner they can solve their own problems and improve their relationships.  This interactive presentation will address the violence that is dramatically affecting our children, provide a clear understanding of how to enforce basic problem solving skills in young people, and explain how to deal with the threat of violence in order to ensure improvement in relationships between adults and young adults. 

The Senior Community Service and Employment Program (SCSEP): An Analysis and Discussion on Serving Minority Participants

The number of older adults in our nation's workforce has been steadily increasing since the late 1980s, and the aging of the baby boom generation is predicted to continue this trend.  An analysis recently conducted by the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) indicates that SCSEP serves a substantially higher proportion of minority groups than their incidence in the population, as well as serving slightly higher proportions of Black, American Indian and Pacific Islander individuals. This presentation will discuss these findings, including (1) a comparison of the participation of minority groups to their proportion in the population and (2) the outcomes achieved by minority participants as compared to non-minority participants.  Additionally, a SCSEP grantee organization will provide a practical example and explanation of how it recruits, trains, and places minority participants.

Monitoring the Quality and Effectiveness of Language Access Services

The focus of this workshop will be on the elements of an LEP equal opportunity monitoring review and how to measure the quality and effectiveness of language access services at the state level.  During this session, we will discuss the actions undertaken by various states to provide greater access and more effective services to limited English proficient One Stop customers.

Customers with Psychiatric Disabilities in the One-Stop Environment

This workshop will be an interactive presentation on accommodating customers with psychiatric disabilities in the On-Stop environment.  This session will provide information, resources and strategies. 

America’s Heroes at Work:
Helping Support Returning Service Members with TBI & PTSD

America’s Heroes at Work is a new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) project that aims to help returning service members affected by Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) succeed in the workplace.  The project has a two-pronged objective:  (1) to serve as an anti-stigma campaign designed to increase awareness of TBI and PTSD issues in the workforce system, and (2) to educate employers and others about workplace accommodations and employment supports that can be implemented for these service members when they return to work.  Attendees of this workshop will hear about the America’s Heroes at Workinitiative; learn the facts about TBI and PTSD, including common symptoms and research that dispels myths; learn promising practices and specific workplace accommodations that can help employees with TBI and PTSD succeed (from job coaching and mentoring, to lighting adjustments and schedule reminders); and see a live demonstration of the America’s Heroes at WorkWeb site and the educational materials it houses.

The Generations Amongst Us:  Working-Women Challenges and Issues

For the first time, four generations of employees are simultaneously playing a prominent role in the workforce. Today, there are more people who are working past their 60’s into their 90’s and organizations are picking up on the importance of age—the often overlooked aspect of diversity that impacts workplace dynamics.  This workshop will provide cutting-edge information and encourage audience dialogue, on how working women are impacted by some of the most significant changes in today’s workforce.

Introduction to Federal Contract Compliance

This workshop provides an overview of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) with a special emphasis on Protected Veterans.  Participants will learn about OFCCP’s relationship with the federal contractor community and with State workforce agency job banks.

Investigating Age Discrimination Complaints

This workshop will provide participants with a better understanding of the legal standards for investigating complaints alleging age discrimination, and discuss and explain the process for handling requests for age accommodation with real live situations that may occur in employment as well as in workforce programs.

An Introduction to SafetyNet

SafetyNet is a virtual toolkit designed for Job Corps staff. In this toolkit, staff will find trainings, resources, brochures, and handouts.  This presentation will introduce staff to the tools available on this site.  Participants will also learn the basics of preventing bullying, suicide, and violence on center through discussion and role play.

How to Conduct a Sexual Harassment Investigation

Sexual Harassment in the workplace is something no one should have to deal with.  But if someone files a claim or makes a complaint to you, it is imperative that you investigate the claim immediately.  This workshop will illustrate a comprehensive and practical guide to investigating a sexual harassment incident.  During this interactive workshop, participants will gain skills in interviewing all concerned parties, documentation, confidentiality issues and how to protect principal parties.

Education and the Workforce: The Critical Links

The increased rate at which the U.S. economy is transitioning to a knowledge-based economy is evident in the growth of professional and business service jobs and of education and health service jobs. In this workshop, we will examine national and regional trends in job growth by industry and occupation and the relationship to education. We will also review trends in the relationship of education and wages.