EEOC to Host Virtual Roundtable on Potential Workers With Gaps in Employment

EEOC to host a virtual roundtable to discuss challenges workers face when reentering the workforce after periods of unemployment.

On April 28, 2022, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will host, as part of the Hiring Initiative to Reimagine Equity (HIRE), the virtual roundtable Untapped Potential: Reimagining Equity for Workers with Gaps in Employment History to discuss challenges workers face when reentering the workforce after periods of unemployment.

As employers confront changing labor market dynamics, many are searching for strategies to recruit and hire new and diverse talent. Yet, many employers routinely decline to hire applicants with gaps in their employment history. Such practices can screen out otherwise qualified applicants from underrepresented groups, including caregivers, older workers seeking to re-enter the workforce, people with long-term disabilities, and formerly incarcerated individuals. Speakers will highlight the barriers that individuals with gaps in employment history face when looking for good jobs, the strengths these workers offer to employers, and promising practices recruiters and hiring officials can use to attract this untapped talent.

HIRE is a multi-year joint initiative that will engage a broad array of stakeholders to expand access to good jobs for workers from underrepresented communities and help address key hiring and recruiting challenges. The HIRE fact sheet contains more information.

Date & Time: April 28, 2022, 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. EDT

Speakers: 

• Jenny R. Yang, Director, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, U.S. Department of Labor
• Charlotte A. Burrows, Chair, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• Eve Hill, Chair, Board of Trustees, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and Partner, Brown, Goldstein & Levy
• Teresa Y. Hodge, Executive Director, Mission: Launch
• Elizabeth Gedmark, Vice President, A Better Balance
• Heather Tinsley-Fix, Senior Advisor, Financial Resilience, AARP
• Additional Speakers TBD 

Register ar: https://eeoc.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_hwUhHWDuSO2yLfV4NSCn5w

Registration is required and there is no cost. Video/Dial-in information will be sent separately upon registration. Livestream overflow will be on the EEOC’s YouTube page.