With less than a week left on the December 21st deadline to reach a spending deal and avoid another government shutdown, tensions are high in Washington D.C. On Tuesday, President Trump stated he would refuse to sign a spending bill that did not contain a $5 billion allocation for a border wall. It is questionable, … Continue Reading
By Laura A. Mitchell and James D. Mackey As we reported on Friday, November 30, OFCCP began it’s 2019 fiscal year by releasing a rash of new directives. On Monday, we looked at the rescission of Obama Administration’s Active Case Enforcement (ACE) directive. Yesterday, we reviewed OFCCP’s new guidance on Early Resolution Procedures. Today we … Continue Reading
By Scott M. Pechaitis and Sabrina L. Brown As we reported last Friday, OFCCP has kicked-off 2019 with a bang – issuing three directives in a single day. Yesterday we reported on the first of three new Directives OFCCP issued to kick off fiscal year 2019. Today we cover the second Directive – Directive 2019-02: … Continue Reading
Today, on the last day of the month, OFCCP has released three new directives – the first three of the Agency’s 2019 Fiscal Year – and continues the string of directives issued by the new administration, bringing the number to an even dozen. Directive 2019 -01: Compliance Review Procedures rescinds the Directive 2011-01 which set out the Active … Continue Reading
By Laura A. Mitchell, James D. Mackey, and Suzanne Donnelly Corwin As contractors start to see new scheduling letters arrive from OFCCP’s latest round of advance notification letters, OFCCP has new opportunities to demonstrate its commitment to transparency, through implementation of the Agency’s recently released Directive 2018-08: Transparency in OFCCP Compliance Activities. The Agency’s stated philosophy is that transparency … Continue Reading
It appears OFCCP has made some updates to its latest Corporate Scheduling Announcement List release. When accessing the current publicly available list through OFCCP’s website, the resulting file now displays a header which indicates the file contains “addresses updated as of September 24, 2018.” Upon close review and comparison with the original list posted last week, it … Continue Reading
Wondering whether your organization has been selected for an upcoming audit as part of OFCCP’s recent Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letter (CSAL) list supplement? Well, wonder no more. OFCCP has made publicly available its most recent CSAL supplement as well as the two previous CSAL lists (2017 and 2018). As a reminder, CSALs are a “courtesy notification to an … Continue Reading
There is no rest for the weary at OFCCP. Continuing the steady flow of Directives and proposals as well as audits coming out of Washington D.C., the Agency has released two additional directives in furtherance of the Administration’s commitment to transparency and certainty. The first, Directive 2018-08: Transparency in OFCCP Compliance Activities will “ensure transparency in all … Continue Reading
As we reported last week, OFCCP has released a supplemental list of contractors who have been selected for audit by the Agency. In addition to releasing information about the supplemental list of CSALs, OFCCP also published a new FAQ addressing requests for extensions and a supplement to its recently disclosed scheduling methodology. Request for Extension FAQ One of … Continue Reading
OFCCP has been busy, and they are not slowing down. Today, OFCCP issued an additional 750 Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letters (CSALs) to federal contractors providing advance notification of compliance reviews, in order to make sure the district and area offices “have a sufficient number of available establishments to schedule for compliance reviews until OFCCP releases … Continue Reading
There’s been a lot of discussion in past days about OFCCP’s new Compensation Directive, which describes the Agency’s approach to investigating pay discrimination. We’ve spent some time digging into the details of the directive. We’ve previously shared our thoughts about the Directive’s commitment to transparency, and now, as promised, want to share our thoughts about the nuts and … Continue Reading
As we reported last week, in light of three Supreme Court cases addressing religious freedoms, OFCCP has issued a new Directive 2018-3 and a press release regarding “religion-exercising” organizations and individuals. The Directive cites three recent Supreme Court cases as well as Executive Orders issued by President Trump. With respect to the court cases, the … Continue Reading
As discussed during the 2018 ILG National Conference, Acting Director Craig Leen has released a Directive formalizing OFCCP’s plans to start initiating focused reviews. Acting Director Leen, simultaneously released a Directive addressing religious discrimination – a topic not broadly (or otherwise) discussed during the Agency’s recent public engagements. The stated purpose of Directive 2018-03: Executive Order … Continue Reading
As we recently reported, OFCCP is evaluating affirmative action obligations for TRICARE providers and expects to publish rulemaking on this front next year. In connection with this, to allow time for the rulemaking process, as well as to allow time for any potential related legislative action, OFCCP announced it has extended the enforcement moratorium for TRICARE … Continue Reading
Bloomberg Law is reporting OFCCP may soon rescind the controversial Directive 307, which has been in place since early 2013, and sets out the Agency’s current methodology for analyzing pay. In its place, Bloomberg reports OFCCP will direct compliance officers to review compensation based on pay groupings established by the contractor. If the directive is rescinded and … Continue Reading
by Laura A. Mitchell and Christopher T. Patrick Under the leadership of new OFCCP Director Ondray Harris, the Agency has issued its first policy directive of 2018. Directive 2018-01, effective February 27, addresses an area of concern discussed at length during the Agency’s listening sessions earlier this year: the need for increased transparency. The Directive … Continue Reading
OFCCP’s website has been updated to reflect that the Agency placed 1,000 Corporate Scheduling Announcement letters in the mail on February 1, 2018. We have seen one of the letters – it is dated January 31, 2018, signed by new OFCCP Director Ondray Harris, and addressed generically to the “Human Resources Director.” OFCCP last issued … Continue Reading
In budget measures last week both the U.S. Senate and House signaled the proposed merger between OFCCP and EEOC will soon be nothing but a distant memory. This action comes on the heels of a recent letter from OFCCP Acting Director Tom Dowd who also questioned the efficiency of the proposed merger in light of available … Continue Reading
The short answer to this question is not much, or so it seems. Part of the reason for this is likely the fact we are still awaiting selection of a new OFCCP Director. Deputy OFCCP Director Thomas M. Dowd currently continues in the position of Acting Director and we’ve not heard any news regarding DOL … Continue Reading
As an update to last month’s report that OFCCP has put 800 establishments on notice of upcoming audits, we have learned that as of Friday, March 17, 2017, OFCCP has started sending out letters actually initiating audits. Unlike the courtesy scheduling announcement letters (CSALs) which provide advance notice of an audit, the Scheduling Letters put … Continue Reading
By a narrow margin of 49-48, the Senate has voted to “disapprove” President Obama’s much challenged Executive Order 13673: Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces, which required the mandatory reporting of labor violations for contractors going through the contract procurement process. Relying on the power granted it by the Congressional Review Act, Congress has all be sealed the … Continue Reading
As a follow up to our post yesterday, there is additional information available regarding OFCCP’s recent mailing out of courtesy scheduling announcement letters. After a hiatus for the past few years, OFCCP has officially confirmed it has once again sent out CSALs. dated February 17th. Here are some additional details regarding this wave of notices: OFCCP is characterizing … Continue Reading
It has come to our attention that OFCCP has sent out Courtesy Scheduling Announcement Letters providing contractors with advance notice of upcoming OFCCP audits. Signed by interim Director Tom Dowd, dated February 17, 2017 and addressed generically to Human Resources Director, the letters provide warning that the establishment listed has been selected for an impending OFCCP compliance … Continue Reading
As some of you may have noticed, the current OMB approval for the required disability self-identification form expired January 31, 2017. On the eve of its expiration, OMB approved the form for another three years – until January 31, 2020. An updated version of the form (in multiple languages) can be found here. According to OFCCP’s … Continue Reading
