Recent News

On November 5, the Department of Labor published its final rule regarding the requirement that federal contractors track and annually report the number of their employees who are covered veterans. The rule will be effective on December 5.

On October 10, amendments to the complaint process under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”) became law. The Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act reforms the USERRA complaint process by setting time limits for the Department of Labor’s investigation and referral to the Department of Justice, and for DOJ’s decision whether to appear on behalf of the servicemember. Similar time limits apply on behalf of complaints filed by federal employees/servicemembers.

Watson Wyatt, an international human resources consulting firm, reporting the results of  a survey of companies doing business in the U.S., said that most of the companies in the survey believed the contracting economy would have an impact on staffing, pay, and benefits.

The final FMLA regulations, including new standards for families of military personnel, have been sent to the OMB.  From all accounts, the regulations will be published in mid-November. 

The Department of Homeland Security issued a supplemental final “no-match” rule that is unchanged from its previous rule.  Employers familiar with the old rule need make no changes to their practices. 

The OFCCP announced that approximately 2500 facilities have been identified as potential targets for compliance review in the first release of the OFCCP's scheduling cycle. Based on earlier comments by former Deputy Director of OFCCP David Frank, it is expected that approximately 5,000 facilities will be identified for potential compliance review in March 2009. The scheduling lists are generated through the Federal Contractor Selection System (FCSS) and external federal contract databases as part of OFCCP’s Contracts First Initiative.

President George W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) Amendments Act of 2008 (“ADAAA”) into law on September 25, 2008. The new law will significantly expand the number of people who can be considered disabled, but will do little to bring clarity to this complicated law. The amendments become effective January 1, 2009.