F. Christopher Chrisbens

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As we are preparing for a change in leadership at OFCCP,  the Agency has published its first Section 503 Focused Reviews Annual Report and issued Section 503 Certificates of Merit.  As many are aware, OFCCP Director Craig Leen is passionate about fighting for and protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities and, as such,…

Following on the heels of its final rule clarifying the religious exemption found at Section 204(3) of Executive Order (EO) 11246 and codified at 41 C.F.R. 60-1.5(a)(5) (the Exemption), OFCCP this week issued an Opinion Letter addressing the scope of the Exemption. Specifically, the Opinion Letter provides insights on “six possible religious discrimination scenarios.”

As…

OFCCP has published a notice in the Federal Register extending the public comment period on its proposal to require federal contractors to submit an annual certification of their AAP compliance.  The new comment deadline is January 28, 2021.  While this notice does not state the reason for the extension, it appears the Agency received…

Since it was issued in September 2020, Executive Order 13950 – Combatting Race and Sex Stereotyping has been a source of controversy and criticism.  Speculation as to the fate of the Executive Order in the future Biden/Harris administration has accelerated in recent weeks with talks of rescission and legal challenges.  While we await the ultimate…

OFCCP issued today the last of a series of Directives aimed at defining the Agency’s enforcement relationship with federal contractors – this Directive 2021-02 focuses on providing federal contractors “Certainty” when interacting with the Agency.

Since he took the leadership role, OFCCP Director Craig Leen has focused on providing federal contractors with “four pillars” on…

Rounding out the Agency’s efforts to beef up its Technical Assistance Guides (TAGs) for different types of federal contractors, OFCCP recently published a “Small Contractor” TAG.  TAGs can be helpful resources for both new and experienced federal contractors, and the aim of this TAG is to guide those small contractors with limited resources through…

As anticipated, on December 7, 2020, OFCCP published on its Website a lengthy final rule clarifying the religious exemption found at Section 204(3) of Executive Order (EO) 11246 and codified at 41 C.F.R. 60-1.5(a)(5) (the Exemption).

The purpose of this final rule is to clarify the contours of the E.O. 11246 religious exemption and the…

The Department of Defense has published a Memo and provided the Clause which its contracting agencies are now required to include in new contracts after the November 21, 2020 effective date of Executive Order 13950 – Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping.  The notice identifies this as a “class deviation”  that is “effective immediately” and…

As we noted in our August 2019 post, one of OFCCP Director Craig Leen’s priorities has been to update the Agency’s website with assistance materials for contractors – including Technical Assistance Guides (TAGs).  OFCCP announced today that it has updated the TAG for contractors and subcontractors with covered supply or service contracts.

TAGs…

As directed in the recent controversial Executive Order (EO) 13950– Combatting Race and Sex Stereotyping, OFCCP is publishing in the Federal Register a request for information (RFI) seeking to collect information regarding training materials that may contain “divisive concepts” or promote sex and race stereotyping or scapegoating. The Agency also held a public Stakeholder…