Archive for the ‘News’ Category
A Look at OFCCP’s 2011 Regulatory Agenda
Last Updated on Friday, 4 March 2011 01:55 Written by HudsonMann Monday, 14 February 2011 05:16
OFCCP recently published its regulatory agenda for 2011 and held an online Q&A session regarding their plans for the year. Below is a look at the four major regulatory initiatives that are in store. We’ve listed them in order of their planned release dates.
1) Updating veterans’ protection regulations:
OFCCP initially planned to release a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) titled “Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination Obligations of Contractors and Subcontractors; Evaluation of Recruitment and Placement Results Under the VEVRAA of 1974, As Amended” in January. At the time of this posting it has still not been published.
The NPRM would require that Federal contractors and subcontractors use “numerical targets to measure the effectiveness of affirmative action efforts” toward veterans and make revisions to recordkeeping requirements. This would be a significant addition to the current affirmative action requirements for veterans which do not include any kind of numerical targets or statistical analysis.
2) New compensation data collection tool:
In light of OFCCP’s pending cancellation of their former compensation guidance, they are looking for a new method of collecting compensation data during their compliance reviews. The Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) scheduled to be released in February “will seek input from stakeholders on issues relating to the scope, content, and format of the tool to ensure that it is an effective and efficient data collection instrument.”
OFCCP’s vision for the tool would allow them to conduct “establishment-specific, contractor-wide, and industry-wide analyses” to help eliminate gender and race-based compensation discrimination. The potential scope of this tool, along with recent (failed) legislative efforts, hint that the proposed tool may resemble the old Equal Opportunity (EO) Survey.
3) Construction Contractor Affirmative Action Requirements
The NPRM will update the Executive Order 11246 regulations which were last revised in 1980. Among other things, the new regulations would seek to “remove outdated regulatory provisions” and “propose a new method for establishing affirmative action goals” – a process that is unwieldy in its present state.
OFCCP’s regulatory agenda notes that when these regulations are implemented “there may be some additional costs to contractors as a result of the increased scope of required actions.” The NPRM is scheduled for release in July.
4) Updating Affirmative Action regulations for individuals with disabilities:
Based on comments they received to their ANPRM last year, OFCCP plans to issue a NPRM in August titled “Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination Obligations of Contractors and Subcontractors: Evaluation of Recruitment and Placement Results Under Section 503.” These regulations will require Federal contractors to increase “linkages” with organizations that serve individuals with disabilities and “conduct more substantive analyses of recruitment and placement actions taken” towards individuals with disabilities. Recordkeeping requirements would also be changed.
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To see OFCCP’s published regulatory agenda, go to: http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/DOL_Fall_2010_Regulatory_Agenda.pdf#page76
Tags: affirmative action regulations, construction AAP, Executive Order 11246, Federal contractor, Section 503, veterans, VEVRAA | Posted under Latest News, News | No Comments
OFCCP Settles Gender Discrimination Case for $1.65 Million
Last Updated on Monday, 14 February 2011 09:31 Written by HudsonMann Monday, 14 February 2011 09:31
From OFCCP:
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Federal contractor Green Bay Dressed Beef LLC will pay $1.65 million in back wages, interest and benefits to 970 women who were subjected to systemic discrimination by the company. The settlement follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which found that the women were rejected for general laborer positions at the company’s Green Bay plant in 2006 and 2007.
“This is the 21st century in the United States of America. There is no such thing as a “man’s job,’” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “I am pleased that my department has been able to work out a resolution with Green Bay Dressed Beef, and that the settlement not only compensates the victims of discrimination but also provides jobs for many of these women.”
In addition to financial compensation, the beef supplier will extend a total of 248 offers of employment to affected women as positions become available. The company already has hired more than 60 of the women in the original class.
During a scheduled compliance review, OFCCP determined that the company had violated Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of gender in their employment practices. Under the terms of the conciliation agreement worked out between the Labor Department and the contractor, the $1.65 million will be divided among the affected women who return timely notifications. The company also has agreed to undertake extensive self-monitoring and corrective measures to ensure that all employment practices fully comply with the law and will immediately correct any discriminatory practices.
Two of Green Bay Dressed Beef’s largest clients are the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Defense — as one of the largest suppliers of beef products for the federal school lunch program and one of the leading providers of beef products to American military personnel worldwide.
In addition to Executive Order 11246, OFCCP’s legal authority exists under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. As amended, these three laws hold those who do business with the federal government, both contractors and subcontractors, to the fair and reasonable standard that they not discriminate in employment on the basis of gender, race, color, religion, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. For general information, call OFCCP’s toll-free helpline at 800-397-6251. Additional information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/ofccp.
Posted under Latest News, News | No Comments
OFCCP’s Changing Compensation Review Process
Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 December 2010 03:03 Written by HudsonMann Wednesday, 15 December 2010 03:02
In addition to changing their compliance review process in general, OFCCP is also implementing a few significant changes to their compensation review process. These changes include cancelling former compensation analysis guidelines and requesting additional information during audits.
OFCCP is in the process of formally rescinding their “Interpretative Standards for Systemic Compensation Discrimination” and “Voluntary Guidelines for Self-Evaluation of Compensation Practices.” Published in 2006, these documents set the standard for how OFCCP would evaluate Federal contractors’ compensation systems and provided guidelines for contractors to evaluate themselves.
The rescission of these standards will allow OFCCP to substantially change their formal compensation review practices. Unfortunately, there is no interim guidance for the Federal contractor community. To protect your company from claims of compensation discrimination, ensure that you can defend all employee’s compensation down to the job title level. Well-crafted job descriptions, documentation and consistency will be your best allies.
Additional evidence that OFCCP is changing their compensation review practices is currently being seen during compliance reviews. Based on an initial compensation analysis during the desk audit phase (the thresholds used for this “tipping-point” analysis are also continually changing), the OFCCP may request additional information. For several years this request came in the form of a letter asking for a standard set of 12 items. This has been recently increased to 14 items. The major new requests are:
- Hourly wage and number of hours worked during the review period for part-time employees
- Other paid allowances, if any, such as commission pay, overtime pay, bonus pay or shift differential. Report each such allowance in separate data columns. (Compliance officers have clarified that “the amounts should cover the 12 month time period preceding the snapshot date of the data.”
- SSEG’s if developed
- Date of birth is no longer requested
Regulations at 41 CFR 60.2.17(b) require contractors to annually analyze “compensation system(s) to determine whether there are gender-, race-, or ethnicity-based disparities” When performing this analysis, be sure to consider pay discrimination against “non-protected classes” since the OFCCP has been increasing their focus on discrimination against whites and males.
As always, please give your HudsonMann Account Manager a call if you would like to discuss how these trends may affect your organization.
Tags: affirmative action regulations, audit, compensation analysis, compliance evaluation, OFCCP | Posted under Latest News, News | No Comments
Important Lessons from Recent OFCCP Settlements
Last Updated on Friday, 21 January 2011 01:49 Written by HudsonMann Monday, 13 December 2010 04:59
A pair of recent OFCCP settlements shed additional light on some important items that should be of concern to all covered Federal contractors:
1) Follow up on all findings of potential adverse impact, especially in the hiring process.
Adverse impact analyses allow employers to see if any selection process adversely affects, or unfairly favors, a class of individuals based on their race or gender. Adverse impact in the hiring process is the most common cause of on-site OFCCP investigations and accounts for well over 90% of OFCCP’s financial remedies.
OFCCP’s recent settlements with Tyson Refrigerated Processed Meats and Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated both resulted from inequities in the hiring process that were found to be discriminatory.
If your AAP reports reveal adverse impact, the first step should be to ensure you are performing the analysis on only those candidates who meet the OFCCP’s definition of Internet applicant. The inclusion of unqualified job candidates can skew the results of the analysis and show adverse impact. If time and resources permit, you may want to perform a “steps analysis” to pinpoint when adverse impact is occurring. This type of analysis looks at each step of the hiring process to see if potential discrimination may be occurring (for example, the resume screen stage, the phone screen stage or the interview stage).
You will want to be particularly vigilant if your organization uses tests as part of the screening process. If tests result in adverse impact to any group, the OFCCP will expect that the test has been previously validated.
2) Look out for discrimination against “non-protected classes”
While OFCCP certainly has a history of pursuing “reverse-discrimination” cases, their focus in this area has been increasing over the last several years. Whites and males are not typically considered members of a “protected class,” yet they are still afforded protection under EEO and Affirmative Action laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race and gender – no matter what your race or gender happens to be.
On several recent occasions, OFCCP officials have mentioned that they will be going after discrimination “wherever it occurs.” This claim has been proven in the Tyson settlement which “found that African-American and Caucasian applicants were less likely to be hired than similarly situated Hispanic applicants over a two-year period.”
Examine your adverse impact analyses with this in mind. If it appears that whites or males are statistically disfavored, investigate these findings the same way you would if it was adverse impact against minorities or women. This means reviewing the candidates’ disposition codes, applications and other selection documentation to ensure that no discrimination is occurring.
Tags: compliance evaluation, OFCCP | Posted under Latest News, News | No Comments
