The highly anticipated proposed budget released today by the White House included expected budget cuts for the U.S. Department of Labor. While cutting funds for the DOL, the proposed budget did not resurrect the previously raised possible merger of OFCCP and EEOC. The President’s FY2019 Budget for the Department of Labor starts with the following introduction: … Continue Reading
Effective January 1, 2018, the minimum wage for federal contractors working on or in connection with contracts covered by Executive Order 13658 will be $10.35/ hour. The announcement was made via posting in the federal register on September 15, 2017. The wage rate for tipped employees will also increase to $7.25/hour. This is the third increase … Continue Reading
In a recent letter responding to an inquiry regarding the proposed merger between OFCCP and EEOC, Acting OFCCP Director Tom Dowd detailed the regulatory requirements to undertake a merger, which would take effect in 2019. He also suggested interim alternatives exist to achieve the efficiencies intended by the merger, implying the proposed merger is unlikely to occur. Director Dowd’s letter … Continue Reading
OFCCP has released its revised VEVRAA hiring benchmark for 2017. The agency has lowered the benchmark to 6.7 percent, down from the previous 6.9 percent mark. As was the case last year, the agency provided guidance for contractors to implement the new benchmark stating: Contractors who adopted the previous year’s national benchmark of 6.9 percent after … Continue Reading
The confirmation hearing for new Secretary of Labor nominee, Alexander Acosta, has been pushed back until March 22 to allow him to travel to Nashville with the President. Its anticipated once the hearing moves forward, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, will vote within on Acosta’s confirmation within the following week. Stay tuned for new developments.… Continue Reading
The confirmation hearing for President Trump’s second Secretary of Labor nominee, Alex Acosta, has been set for March 15. Acosta was nominated after President Trump’s initial nominee, Andrew Puzder withdrew from consideration following growing controversy. While nothing prevents Acosta’s confirmation hearing from being postponed, as Puzder’s was several times before his eventual withdrawal, there does … Continue Reading
This week the General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report to the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce on its recent audit of OFCCP. The report reviews (1) how the Agency conducts audits; and, (2) the Agency’s outreach assistance and guidance efforts. The 56-page report – titled “Strengthening Oversight Could Improve Federal Contractor … Continue Reading
Veterans are continuing to receive support in their quest for employment with Wyoming being the latest state to join the ranks of those permitting a preference to be granted based on veteran status, including spouses of disabled or deceased veterans. The law will go into effect July 1, 2016. Governor Matt Mead’s signing of the new law coincides … Continue Reading
In August 2015, OFCCP released an infographic designed to assist veterans understand whether or not they were covered under the protections of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) for affirmative action purposes. The infographic spawned recent discussions surrounding the implications and interpretations of OFCCP’s definition of a protected veteran. Today, OFCCP published FAQs … Continue Reading
The EEO-1 Joint Reporting Committee has extended the deadline for filing this year’s EEO-1 Reports. The new deadline to file reports is now October 30, 2015. This additional 30 days gives employers much needed time to adjust to and incorporate the new filing requirements. There has been no extension at this time of the VETS-4212 … Continue Reading
As we previously reported, the annual EEO-1 Reporting portal has opened and along with it some changes to the reporting requirements. Probably the most impactful change is the new requirement that companies may no longer file more than one EEO-1 report for the same address if the North American Industrial Classification System Code (NAICS) is the same … Continue Reading
This past March, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez issued a News Release announcing the overall unemployment rate for all veterans has dropped for the fourth consecutive year – this is great news. In an effort to assist in the employment of veterans, covered federal contractors are required to set a protected veteran hiring benchmark as part … Continue Reading
Since introducing its new scheduling letter in late 2014, OFCCP has made many important changes to enforcement in audits. From ramped up enforcement of the Agency’s VEVRAA and Section 503 regulations to new and very different ways to investigate pay systems for discrimination, the Agency has fundamentally changed how it conducts compliance reviews. And it’s … Continue Reading
In light of this week’s Supreme Court decision in Young v. United Parcel Service addressing the issue of accommodations and pregnancy discrimination, OFCCP has extended the public comment period for the Agency’s Sex Discrimination Regulation Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The public comment period now closes April 14, 2015. By extending the comment period by two … Continue Reading
In response to requests following publication of the final regulations implementing President Obama’s recent Executive Order addressing non-discrimination and affirmative action on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, OFCCP has published a directory of resources to assist federal contractors “around issues relating to creating an inclusive workplace of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender … Continue Reading
Get a jump start on the year and come learn what you need to know about all of the new and upcoming obligations for federal contractors. Join us at The OFCCP Institute’s first conference of 2015 in San Francisco on February 25th and 26th. We will do a deep dive into the many new obligations … Continue Reading
As Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez recently announced, OFCCP has updated its guidance to “make clear that discrimination on the basis of transgender status is discrimination based on sex” under Title VII and existing case law. By e-mail Director Patricia Shiu announced the release of Directive 2014-02, the purpose of which is to “clarify that … Continue Reading
As OFCCP tries to find new ways to attack the “pay gap,” the Agency is focused increasingly on novel and creative methods to uncover alleged pay discrimination. These “outside the box” investigations look beyond simply pay decisions (starting salary and pay adjustments) and instead examine employee selection processes – such as hiring decisions – and … Continue Reading
As we reported recently, President Obama intends to issue an Executive Order prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination by federal contractors. Also in support of LGBT Pride Month, Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez recently blogged that the DOL is “updating enforcement protocols and anti-discrimination guidance to clarify that [the DOL] provides the full protection … Continue Reading
As an update to our post last week, the Department of Labor’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking establishing a minimum wage for federal contractors has now been formally published in the Federal Register. With this publication, the 30-day public comment period starts to run, making the deadline to submit comments July 17, 2014. Comments can be submitted … Continue Reading
The Department of Labor released today its Notice of Proposed Rule Making to raise the minimum wage for federal workers to $10.10 an hour. The proposed rule implements Executive Order 13658, which was announced by the President on February 12, 2014. Once the proposed rule is officially published in the Federal Register the public will have … Continue Reading
Last week during The OFCCP Institute’s Annual Summit, Consuela Pinto from the Department of Labor’s Solicitor’s Office, in addition to speaking on other topics, touched on the impact of OFCCP’s new veteran and disability regulations thus far. Ms. Pinto confirmed OFCCP has not processed any violations based on audits involving application of the new regulations. … Continue Reading
As we mentioned earlier, at the SWARM Regional Conference this afternoon, Regional Director Melissa Speer and Deputy Director Aida Collins, answered questions from conference attendees about implementation of the new veteran and disability regulations. During the Q&A session, Melissa and Aida graciously took questions from the crowd about real-world implementation scenarios. For those questions they … Continue Reading
As we updated you last week, President Obama has signed an Executive Order increasing the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors to $10.10 an hour. After reading the the Order many employers still have questions surrounding the impact of the President’s executive action. We have prepared some FAQs to help answer these questions. The President … Continue Reading
