If apprentices or applicants for apprenticeship believe they have been discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), sexual orientation, age (40 or older), genetic information, or disability, or that their program is not following the equal opportunity standards, they can file a written complaint with the Registration Agency under which the apprenticeship is registered. Under 29 C.F.R. 30.14, complaints must be filed within 300 days of the alleged discrimination or the alleged failure to follow the equal opportunity standards. The apprentice may also be able to file a complaint directly with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or the State fair employment practices agency in which the apprenticeship program is located. The contact information for those agencies must be included on the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) notice, which must be provided in the application for apprenticeship and must also be displayed in a prominent, publicly available location where all apprentices will see the notice. The EEO notice language is available on the Inform Apprentices EEO webpage. A sample poster for sponsors to customize is available on the Access Pledge Poster webpage.
*Note that due to COVID-19, you are encouraged to email the complaint to ApprenticeshipEEOcomplaints@dol.govensure timely receipt of the complaint.