📞 DOL Congressional Affairs Office

Logan M Isaac: [00:00:00] It's January 21st at 11:50 AM I'm calling the Congressional Affairs Office under the Department of Labor. Um, I'm going to be asking them about their annual report to Congress and where some of the information about veteran complaints can be found.

Dept. of Labor: Okay. May I help you?

Logan M Isaac: Hi. I'm trying to get information on reporting that goes to Congress from the Veterans Employment Transition Services. Uh, there's, is that

Dept. of Labor: who's office?

Logan M Isaac: Uh, I'm not with an office. I'm trying to just get information about the information that's supposed to go to Congress.

Dept. of Labor: Okay. Hold on for one second.

Logan M Isaac: Okay.

Dept. of Labor: Jesus Christ. Morning. Thanks for [00:01:00] calling. Best. This is Brandon. How may I help you?

Logan M Isaac: Hi, my name is Logan Isaac. I'm trying to find information on the, um, complaints made by protected veterans under RA and where I can find information about, uh, the actions taken on those complaints and the resolutions of those complaints.

Dept. of Labor: Transfer you, someone who may be able to help you. Um, his name is Robert Shepherd.

Logan M Isaac: Okay. And what's Robert's position? Um, so he, he handles exactly what you're looking for. Oh, okay. Um, and lemme give you

Dept. of Labor: his number as in disconnected. Okay. Two Uhhuh. Um, 6 9 3

Logan M Isaac: Uhhuh,

Dept. of Labor: 8 1 4 0. Okay.

Logan M Isaac: Okay.[00:02:00]

Hello.

Hello.

All right, I am gonna call that number directly, hang up. I can call that number directly.

I'm calling Robert Shepherd, who is referred to me by the Vets Division under DOL 6 9 3 8 1 4 0.[00:03:00]

This is Robert. Oh, hi, uh, my name is Logan Isaac. I was transferred here, but I think my call got cut off. I'm trying to find information on, um, complaints made by protected veterans, uh, under ra. It's supposed to be reported to Congress, but I only see the number of complaints I can't find. The, um, the actions taken and the resolutions made,

Dept. of Labor: right?

So, uh, if you're talking about compliance, uh, complaints, uh, under the Vera, you're gonna have to reach out to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance. Uh, where you've reached is the Veteran's Employment and Training Service. The Office of Federal Contract compliance with the Department of Labor is the enforcement agency.

We the Veterans Employment and Training Service. We merely have a data [00:04:00] responsibility in accordance with the law. Yes. And that is to collect information from the employers. And that's it. That's where our responsibility and our authority ends. Uh, the o fcp where you, you can go to do l.gov/o fcp. Uh, you should be able to reach those folks.

They'll, they'll be able to answer it. I, I would tell you, uh, I only know because of the data aspect that we have. But that's as far as we know. Okay? Mm-hmm. Uh, that's as far as our purview will allow, but you'll have to talk to the OF

Logan M Isaac: CCP folks. Yeah, I've, I've actually contacted them and they're not sure either.

Mm-hmm. And that's why I'm calling 'cause it seems as though VETS is the one that's preparing the reports and has been since, looks like 2012.

Dept. of Labor: So, no, not, not of complaints. No, we are not. All we do. So, so understand what I'm, what I'm telling you. If you will, please, uh, and you can find this [00:05:00] information actually on our website, you'll see that all we do is collect data that is reported, that is mandated by.

Contract, uh, employers to send. That's it. They just outlined the number of folks they have in employment. That's all the data that we collect. We do not collect anything related to complaints, what you just mentioned. Okay. You're, you're asked. Yeah. Complaints are covered solely by the enforcement agency and by that law it is the Office of Federal Contract Compliance.

They are the enforcement. And administrator of the ra. Right.

Logan M Isaac: When it comes

Dept. of Labor: down to the enforcement, that's it.

Logan M Isaac: Is vets, I, I

Dept. of Labor: don't know what else to tell you on that one.

Logan M Isaac: Is vets, the one that is, are y'all the only one that do the 41 0 7 C report? Is there, are there other reports that Congress gets from DO looking for

Dept. of Labor: seven?

[00:06:00] You're gonna have what? What we collect is the 42 12.

Logan M Isaac: Right, right. Right. I, I think we're missing each other. So I'm, I'm tracking that there are reports sent to Congress. The, the information that the statute, okay, so, so that, so that we can make sure we're

Dept. of Labor: both speaking about the same thing. Reports to Congress of what?

Logan M Isaac: Uh, so section 42, 12 sec subsection C says the number of complaints, the actions taken there on and the resolutions thereof. I see since 2012 that whoever, whatever agency is preparing the 41 0 7 C that goes to Congress, they'll cite, and I can give you page numbers Violet closely, but since 2012, and that's 2012 through 18, I don't think they have 19 yet.

It gives the comp the number of complaints by CCP, but that doesn't give the actions or the resolutions, and [00:07:00] it goes all the way through 2018. It has 132 last year, 1 24 before that. But the data about the actions and the resolutions, how is that getting to Congress? Is there somewhere else that I need to be looking?

Dept. of Labor: Yeah, the O-F-C-C-P, uh, because, uh, I would tell you, we simply collect the 42 12 data that we get from employers Uhhuh, and that's it. We collect it.

Logan M Isaac: Yeah. We have

Dept. of Labor: a responsibility to collect it. We do not provide a report to Congress. On complaints filed regarding the Vera,

Logan M Isaac: do you know who does the

Dept. of Labor: defense?

That would be O-F-C-C-P. They would have to be, uh, as far as I am aware. Okay. And again, I'm not a subject matter expert on RA enforcement. Yeah. I'm a subject matter expert on two other laws that vets has the responsibility of investigating by federal law. We do not have the responsibility to, and, uh, [00:08:00] we also provide reports on those other two laws to Congress.

Okay. Uhhuh. But we do not report to Congress. On compliance assistance efforts or enforcement efforts in this, in, in what you're talking about,

Logan M Isaac: right.

Dept. of Labor: Enforcement efforts. We do not report to Congress, uh, on the ever. Right?

Logan M Isaac: No, I'm not. It would

Dept. of Labor: be my best guess. That, that would be the Office of Federal Contractor Compliance

Logan M Isaac: ocp.

Right. Um, the, the report that I'm looking at has VETS on there, 2018, all the way back to 2012. Can you tell me who I can talk to about those reports?

Dept. of Labor: Are you talking about the 42 12 reports?

Logan M Isaac: Uh, annual report to Congress, fiscal year, blah, blah, blah. DOL Vets, uh, that's the only title that it gives. I'm looking at section.

It looks well, wait, let me find it. I believe section eight of that [00:09:00] report are, are we talking about

Dept. of Labor: a different report to Congress than, than com? Uh, you, because I'm going by what you gave me right at the beginning.

Logan M Isaac: Yeah.

Dept. of Labor: You said complaints filed under the Vera

Logan M Isaac: complaints.

Dept. of Labor: You know, and, and so complaints filed by RA or under RA is one,

Logan M Isaac: not this agency.

Right? Right, right. I'm not asking about enforcement. I'm not asking about enforcement. The, the, the data about the enforcement, there's one line that's included in this report that carries vet's name, but it's missing. Yeah. The actions and resolutions. Is there somewhere else that I can be looking for that, or is O-F-C-C-P not giving it to y'all?

P has no responsibility to give it to us. They do under the law. That's by statute. I, I just by statute, they

Dept. of Labor: by statute we vets have the responsibility to collect 42 12 data. Um, okay. So I'm trying to get to this report that [00:10:00] you're talking about or whatever, whatever you're talking about that you're siding to

Logan M Isaac: Uhhuh.

So give

Dept. of Labor: me something to go on here so that I know I'm staring at the same thing you're

Logan M Isaac: staring at. So if you go to, I have the URL, it's basically dol.gov, and then it's the, the Vet's Legacy. There's a page that I think you could look it up, but basically vet's fiscal year 2018, annual Report to Congress.

There's a page. Oh,

Dept. of Labor: okay. You just, you just clarified something for me. So you're talking about Vets Report to Congress? Yes. Okay. No, that, that makes it easier. Okay. So. And I wanna make sure that we're speaking, again, speaking the same language, so I know where that is. I mean, Beck's, my agency, um, the Vets report to Congress a second here.

And, and you gotta understand, as a federal nash, as a federal agency, national [00:11:00] office, we, you know, most, uh, federal agencies have reports to Congress. It's just depending on which one you're talking about. Okay. 'cause within, within my arena, I sit as the chief senior investigator for vets and. Within my ar uh, arena, we have one report to Congress, which is the Uniform Services Employment Re, employment Rights Act, report to Congress.

Okay. Annual Report to Congress. The agency on the other hand that I work for vets has one report to Congress, which is Vets Annual Report to Congress. So.

Logan M Isaac: I'm looking at page 21 right before section nine. Also O-F-C-C-P processed 132 complaints on the basis of Evra, and every report going back to 2012 has similar language, but from 12 to 18, the language gets shorter and [00:12:00] briefer. Okay, so 2018,

Dept. of Labor: report to Congress. I'm on it right now. What page was that number again?

Logan M Isaac: 21.

You are a tired girl. You gotta go to sleep. Sorry, I got you on speaker phone, so I'm trying to get my daughter to go to sleep. Well, you don't want that. Okay. This,

Dept. of Labor: okay. So I see. Okay, I see table 11 in the middle of the page. Now where, where specifically are you referring to

Logan M Isaac: the last sentence of the paragraph following table 11.

Dept. of Labor: Okay.

Okay, so you're wanting to know that last sentence also O-F-C-C-C-P-O-F-C-C-P processed 132 complaints on the basis of Everett. That's what you're wanting to,

Logan M Isaac: well, that, that, uh, that information, [00:13:00] well, there are two data points missing, and that is the actions taken on those complaints and the resolutions of those complaints.

Mm. Yeah, but it's gonna be all related to those complaints, right? Uh, yes.

Dept. of Labor: I mean, that's what you're asking. The actions taken and the resolution of those complaints, right?

Logan M Isaac: Yeah. Do you know if O-F-C-C-P is sharing that with your agency? I don't for the.

Dept. of Labor: You would, they're not sharing that with my agency.

This information that we have in here is meant, is merely given to us by O-F-C-C-P so that we can fill out, because you notice that what we give as far as data points is the annual federal contractor reporting data. Yeah. We don't talk about complaints up there, right?

Logan M Isaac: No, not on the report. But that's because,

Dept. of Labor: right, because that's, because that is not within our purview.

Okay. O-F-C-C-P, the enforcement agency that would, you know, because enforcement agencies handle complaints. My agency, the [00:14:00] enforcement agency for uc, handles complaints under uc. That's why if you go to the uc annual report to Congress, you'll actually see where we break out actions taken and all those things that you're asking about here regarding O-F-C-C-P, uh, process, uh, complaints on the basis of uc.

O-F-C-C-P is the, is the compliance agency for ra. They would be the only ones with those numbers.

Logan M Isaac: So can you, can you tell, can you confirm whether or not they've been passing the information? I'm sure they'll say yes, but I. Like, I,

Dept. of Labor: I cannot, but I would venture a guess that No, because we don't have a need for that information.

Okay. What you see here is, is the maximum of information that we need. It's just merely to give context to the data that we provide as, as. Required by. Okay. And that data that we are required to by statute is to provide that, that you see [00:15:00] up above there, which is the federal contractor reporting data, not compliance data.

Logan M Isaac: Okay.

Dept. of Labor: Enforcement data rather.

Logan M Isaac: Um, do you know if O-F-C-C-P has their own report by any chance? I don't.

Dept. of Labor: Actually gov.

Again, I'm not an O-F-C-C-P guy. I, I don't deal with FCP law and so I, I rightfully so. I shouldn't, I should pass that on the subject matter experts that over there. Um, okay. I would tell you, uh, check their website and, uh, you know, and likely reach out to them just like you've reached out here. Uh, they are the ones that will handle the enforcement aspect of those [00:16:00] complaints.

Okay. Which is exactly what you're asking. Actions taken and results. Right.

Logan M Isaac: Okay. Um, last question do is, is there someone else that I can talk to about, you know, this report as it, you know, not like 2018, but like how, what the process looks like, getting that data from F-C-C-C-P and like how it's compiled?

Because I, I suspect FCCP is gonna be like, yeah, we've got, we've shared it to 'em with them since whenever. But then I'm gonna have to call back over here. Yeah. And they're gonna be like, no, they haven't been. But I don't wanna waste your time if you're not the person to ask that.

Dept. of Labor: Right. So I would tell you this.

Lemme get your, you said your name is, uh, Logan?

Logan M Isaac: Yep. Last name Isaac. I-S-A-A-C? Yep. And your phone number, Logan? Seven one four five five nine mm-hmm. 8 0 2 5.

Dept. of Labor: Two, five. And you are [00:17:00] with who? Logan?

Logan M Isaac: Uh, it's just me. I, I'm not with, uh, you an organization.

Dept. of Labor: Okay. So you're just a private citizen.

And we're talking about the events.

Logan M Isaac: I mean, to be fair, I'm working with, um, 2018. I'm working with David's office. I'm not one of their staff. Mm-hmm. He's on the, the Committee on Education and Labor and we're in general trying to understand what the situation is for some of these laws that are protecting veterans.

Um, I'm not employed by him. I'm not taking any kind of answers or questions from him, but his office is trying to do something and I'm trying to help them, I guess is the best way to say it. Okay.

Dept. of Labor: So you are working with that office. Okay, so David, spell that last name please.

Logan M Isaac: T-R-O-N-E. He is, uh, Maryland sixth.

Dept. of Labor: He's what?

Logan M Isaac: He's a congressman from Maryland [00:18:00] Sixth District,

Dept. of Labor: Maryland Sixth District congressman. Got it.

Logan M Isaac: Yeah.

Dept. of Labor: Okay. Alright. What I will do. Is I will get a hold of our folks that sit in our front office and ask them who, uh, or, or try and get somebody to give you a call back regarding this information. And just to make sure I'm looking at this correctly, you're talking about the Vets 2018 Report to Congress specifically?

Uh,

Logan M Isaac: slide page. Ahead To be more specific, the, the statute I'm looking at, that I'm trying to figure out is section, uh, 42, 12 subsection C, the, the second part of section C, uh, and into subsection [00:19:00] D. Looks like that's, that's the, the main interest of the vets report. That's, you know, how many are you hiring?

What kind of position, how many new hires, blah, blah, blah. That first sentence is, uh, you know, creates this, this, uh, duty to report the number of complaints which the report has, but also, um, actions and resolutions. So title 38, section 42 12, subsection C. That's what I first sentence of subsection C to get real specific.

I guess that's what I'm trying to hunt down. First,

Dept. of Labor: first, first sentence of subsection C.

Logan M Isaac: Yep.

Dept. of Labor: As in Charlie?

Logan M Isaac: Yes.

Dept. of Labor: Okay.

Okay.

Okay, so, uh, 38 US code section 43 12 C as in Charlie, first sentence. Um, [00:20:00] and, and then as a reference point, you're looking at the Vets 2018 report to Congress. Page 21, where under the, the section entitled, non-discrimination Equal Employment Opportunity Requirements. Last sentence. Yes. Of those 132 complaints, you're looking for results and I believe it was actions taken

Logan M Isaac: well.

Yeah, I think it's actions and resolutions is what the statute says. Actions,

Dept. of Labor: yeah. Resolution. That would be results,

Logan M Isaac: right? Okay. Sure.

Dept. of Labor: I'll change that. And action. Okay. Alright Isaac, I'll pass this on and hopefully you'll hear from somebody, um, within the next day today or, uh, hopefully within the next day or two.

Logan M Isaac: Okay. I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Been very helpful. Yeah. [00:21:00] Alright.