Recent News

Yesterday, November 29, 2012, the Census Bureau released the first part of its equal employment opportunity tabulation, based on the American Community Survey for 2006-2010. Used by enforcement agencies such as the EEOC and OFCCP, this data details race, sex, and ethnicity statistics by both geographical location and occupational area. Federal contractors and subcontractors also use the EEO tabulation for their Affirmative Action Plans (AAPs).

The Veterans Employment & Training Services (VETS) department of the Department of Labor has announced that the filing deadline for the VETS 100 and VETS 100A reports has been extended until Friday, November 9th, due to Hurricane Sandy and its effects. Paper reports and electronic files received by November 9th will be included as part of the 2012 filing cycle and will not be considered late. To learn more about filing the VETS 100 and 100A Reports, visit the VETS website.

In a rare victory for federal contractors, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”)’s Administrative Review Board (“ARB”) ruled that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) lacks jurisdiction over health care providers whose sole federal contracts or subcontracts are based on their relationship with the TRICARE network, the Defense Department’s health care program for both active and retired military. The ARB’s October 19, 2012 decision dismissed the OFCCP’s enforcement action in OFCCP v. Florida Hospital of Orlando, based on the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (“NDAA”), signed by President Obama on December 31, 2011 providing, inter alia, that TRICARE “may not be considered to be a contract for the performance of health care services or supplies.”  As a result, TRICARE contracts are not within OFCCP’s jurisdiction.  OFCCP had refused to concede that the NDAA barred its audit, instead doggedly pursuing the employer.

The Veterans Employment & Training Services (VETS) department of the Department of Labor has confirmed by phone and email that the filing deadline for VETS-100 and 100A reports in the 2012 cycle has been extended to October 31, 2012. All paper reports and electronic files received at the Service Desk by October 31st will be included as part of the 2012 filing cycle and will not be considered late. This extension follows some contractors' reports of problems in uploading VETS reports to the VETS website during this reporting period, and follows the multi-month extension to the filing deadline that was made for last year's VETS reporting period.

Although the extension is not yet published on the DOL website, visit http://www.dol.gov/vets100 to stay apprised of updates on these matters.

It is being reported that two different versions of Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letters (CSALs) were issued by the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) in the May 2012 CSAL wave. Traditionally, CSALs are distributed to a company's CEO or other executive officer with a list of the establishments that may be subject to a compliance evaluation during the upcoming scheduling cycle. The variation of the CSAL that has appeared in the most recent wave has been sent directly to the impacted establishment that may be scheduled for a compliance evaluation during the upcoming scheduling cycle.

The Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced on its website today that it is extending the comment period for the Section 503 NPRM until February 21st. This extends the comment period 14 days past the original scheduled closure date of February 7th. View the official announcement from the OFCCP for more details.

The US Department of Labor on January 30 released a notice of proposed regulations (NPRM) to implement amendments to the military leave provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) made by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. The statutory amendments extended the availability of FMLA leave to family members of members of the Regular Armed Forces for qualifying exigencies due to the servicemember’s deployment; define the deployments covered by the new regulations; and extend FMLA military caregiver leave to family members of certain veterans with serious injuries or illnesses. The proposed regulations also include changes concerning the calculation of leave and reorganize and make technical changes to the current regulations covering military FMLA. This NPRM also proposes to amend the regulations to implement the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act, which established new FMLA leave eligibility requirements for airline flight crewmembers and flight attendants. The Department has indicated that comments will be due to DOL on or before 60 days after date of publication in the Federal Register. We will keep you updated on when the proposed regulations are officially published.

The OFCCP’s long anticipated proposed regulations under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, are scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on December 9th.  There is a 60-day comment period that ends on February 7, 2012.  The proposed 503 regulations address federal contractor’s nondiscrimination, affirmative action and record keeping obligations for persons with disabilities, and you can access a copy of the proposed regulations here.

This week, President Obama announced new initiatives to strengthen employment opportunities for veterans.  My Next Move for Veterans offers veterans an interactive search engine where they enter their prior military experience and explore information on civilian careers and related training. The Veterans Job Bank developed by the National Resource Directory (www.nrd.gov) provides a job bank for military and Veteran communities with the ability to search for jobs from thousands of military-friendly employers worldwide based on keyword, military occupation code (MOC) and/or location. Employers can learn more about participating in the Veterans Job Bank initiative by visiting this link:  https://www.nationalresourcedirectory.gov/home/instructions_for_employer_participation.

Jill Smith, Executive Director of WorkPlace HR, will partner with David Fortney, Esq., of Fortney & Scott, LLC for an upcoming webinar on OFCCP Compliance and Audit Updates offered by Global HR Research. The revamped OFCCP has announced an aggressive enforcement agenda and new regulations, requiring federal contractors to be fully up to speed on these new developments as the OFCCP embarks on a new round of audits of federal contractors tentatively scheduled to begin by the 1st Q, 2012. This seminar provides the latest legal and regulatory developments affecting human resources compliance practitioners and in-house employment counsel in key areas, including:  the status of the new audit letter and proposed requirements for federal contractors to provide significant additional data; OFCCP’s evaluation of compensation; and the status of proposed revisions to regulations addressing federal contractors’ obligations to protected veterans and persons with disabilities, the construction industry and revisions to the sex discrimination guidelines. The webinar will be offered on Thursday, November 17th, at 2 pm EST. To learn more about and register for the webinar, please click here to visit Global HR Research's event page.