This week OFCCP hosted Webinars on federal contractor obligations with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity under Executive Order 13672.

During the training OFCCP reiterated the following requirements:

  • Contractors are to use the updated EO Clause including sexual orientation and gender identity if the entire EO Clause is incorporated into covered purchase orders and subcontracts.
  • Contractors must include sexual orientation and gender identity in your EEO tagline for job ads only if the tag line lists out all of the protected statuses.
  • As an alternative, contractors may continue to use abbreviated taglines which do not need to include reference to sexual orientation or gender identity; and
  • Contractors must post the updated “EEO is the Law” poster when available. Until it is available, contractors are to use a supplement to the poster when provided by EEOC and OFCCP. The supplement is expected to be available at the EEOC and OFCCP Websites sometime shortly after April 8. As soon as we have access to this supplement we will let you know where to find it.

During the webinar OFCCP clarified while it would be “best practice” to include sexual orientation and gender identity in other anti-discrimination documents such as handbooks, revision of these documents is not required.

OFCCP reiterated that contractors are not required to collect any data regarding sexual orientation or gender identity; engage in any particular outreach or training; or set placement goals based on sexual orientation or gender identity. However, OFCCP informed the audience that if contractors elect to invite applicants and/or employees to voluntarily disclose sexual orientation and gender identity, the collected data could be requested during an OFCCP audit or investigation of a LGBT complaint.

More to Come

OFCCP announced it is working on a set of LGBT FAQs which will soon be available on OFCCP’s Website. While FAQs are non-regulatory, they often provide helpful guidance on the Agency’s expectations. We will be sure to provide an update when these become available.