Official State of Rhode Island website

State of Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training

Equal Opportunity

Equal Opportunity is the law.

It is against the law for a recipient of Federal financial assistance to discriminate on the following bases:

  • Against any individual in the United States, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, sex stereotyping, transgender status, and gender identity), national origin (including limited English proficiency), age, disability, or political affiliation or belief; or
  • Against any beneficiary of, applicant to, or participant in programs financially assisted under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, on the basis of the individual's citizenship status or participation in any WIOA Title I - financially assisted program or activity.

The Federal financial recipient providing services must not discriminate against customers in any of the following areas:

  • Deciding who will be admitted, or have access, to any WIOA Title I - financially assisted program or activity;
  • Providing opportunities in, or treating any person with regard to, such a program or activity; or
  • Making employment decisions in the administration of, or in connection with, such a program or activity.

Recipients of federal financial assistance must take reasonable steps to ensure that communications with individuals with disabilities are as effective as communications with others. This means that, upon request and at no cost to the individual, recipients are required to provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services to qualified individuals with disabilities.

What To Do If You Believe You Have Experienced Discrimination

If you think that you have been subjected to discrimination under a WIOA Title I - financially assisted program or activity, you may file a complaint within 180 days from the date of the alleged violation with either:

Bryana L. DelSanto
Equal Opportunity Officer
Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training
1511 Pontiac Avenue Cranston, RI 02920
 

Email: bryana.l.delsanto@dlt.ri.gov
Phone: 401-462-8887

or

The Director
Civil Rights Center (CRC) U.S. Department of Labor
200 Constitution Ave, NW Room N-4123
Washington, DC 20210

You may also file a complaint online on the CRC Web site at  www.dol.gov/crc.

If you file your complaint with the recipient, you must wait either until the recipient issues a written Notice of Final Action or until 90 days have passed (whichever is sooner), before filing with the Civil Rights Center (see address above).

If the recipient does not give you a written Notice of Final Action within 90 days of the day on which you filed your complaint, you may file a complaint with CRC before receiving that Notice. However, you must file your CRC complaint within 30 days of the 90-day deadline (in other words, within 120 days after the day on which you filed your complaint with the recipient).

The Department of Labor and Training is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Program. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.