Office of Civil Rights

The Office of Civil Rights coordinates all Equal Opportunity and HIPAA compliance activity for the department in the following areas:

Employment

• Responsible for the intake and investigations of all employment discrimination complaints (Title VII) filed by employees and applicants. Employees and applicants may file employment discrimination complaints internally with the Office of Civil Rights or externally with the Florida Commission on Human Relations or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
• Participate in mediation and fact-finding conferences with external agencies - Florida Commission on Human Relations and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
• Assist in litigation preparation and testify in court cases as requested.
• Conduct onsite and management reviews.
• Develop settlement/conciliation agreements.
• Develop and implement affirmative action program.

Service Delivery

• Ensure that the department and its service providers are providing equally accessible and equally affective services to eligible clients by conducting compliance reviews and monitoring.
• Responsible for the intake and investigations of service delivery complaints of discrimination (Title VI) filed by clients, potential clients, family members, advocacy groups, etc. The complaints can be filed internally with the Office of Civil Rights or externally with Department of Justice-Office of Civil Rights, Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Civil Rights or Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services-Office of Civil Rights.
• Develop Corrective Action Plans
• Participate in Alternative Dispute Resolutions conferences.
• Auxiliary Aids & Service Plan, ADA, Section 504, and LEP Coordinators
• Materials For Service Delivery

Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA)

• Conduct yearly compliance reviews.
• Investigate complaints alleging violation of Privacy. Complaints may be filed internally with the Office of Civil Rights or externally with Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Civil Rights.
• Assist with the development of Privacy Training.
• Publish HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

The office of Civil Rights also is responsible for policy and procedure development relating to civil rights issues, conducting and providing civil rights training.