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 CSALs around this same time a year ago.

The website notes scheduling letters will go out starting March 19, 2018.

In a change from past practices, OFCCP says:

  • No more than 10 establishments of a single contractor are placed on the scheduling list.
  • No more than four establishments of a single contractor are placed on the scheduling list for a single district office.
  • No establishment with an audit closed in the last five years is placed on the scheduling list.

Unlike last year, the website does not provide details about the industries or the distinct number of companies notified.

As in the past, we urge you to notify your facilities to be on the lookout for one of these letters and to forward it to the proper personnel immediately so you can start preparations now for the impending audit.  As we like to say, there is nothing better than the gift of time, so make sure you take advantage of it.  Of course (and perhaps even more importantly), all facilities should also be on the lookout in March for the actual scheduling letter which will start the clock ticking on the 30 day response deadline.

We will update with any additional details as they become available.

This week, newly appointed OFCCP Director Ondray T. Harris, along with Special Advisor, Craig Leen, and Director of Policy, Debra Carr, held a series of meetings with various stakeholder groups from the federal contractor and civil rights communities.  This was the first opportunity for many who regularly work with OFCCP to meet Director Harris and Mr. Leen.  As a representative of many in the contractor community, Jackson Lewis participated in the meeting for contractor groups.  Separate meetings were held with representatives from civil rights groups and employers themselves.

 The meeting included a robust discussion and the exchange of ideas on numerous topics of interest to both the contractor community and OFCCP.  We are happy to report that Director Harris, Mr. Leen, and Ms. Carr were welcoming, personable, and genuinely engaged in the discussion.  While new to the Agency, Director Harris and Mr. Leen clearly understand the important role OFCCP plays and the necessity of working with the contractor community to achieve common objectives.  We look forward to working with Director Harris and his team.  As always, we will keep you posted on any noteworthy news.

 

The portal is now open for employers to file their 2017 EEO-1 Surveys.  The deadline to file this year is March 31, 2018.  Following a reprieve in 2017, this will be employers’ first filing since the Fall of 2016.  While giving employers a break from reporting, the hiatus also allowed the EEO-1 Joint Reporting Committee time to implement some changes to the reporting portal.

In addition to looking somewhat different, the online reporting process now includes some additional security protocols.  To assist users, The EEO-1 Joint Reporting Commission has published an EEO-1 Survey User Guide with helpful information.  The User Guide provides step-by-step instructions with screenshots and walks users through both manual and batch upload reporting.

Additionally, first time users can obtain information and guidance on filing through the “First Time Users” link.

For questions you can reach out to the Commission for assistance via e-mail E1.TECHASSISTANCE@EEOC.GOV or by phone, 1-877-392-4647 (toll-free).

Now that you’ve successfully filed your 2017 VETS-4212 reports, it’s time to focus on EEO-1 reporting.  Most employers are not accustomed to focusing on EEO-1 reporting going into a new year, but following the filing reprieve in 2017, employers need to make sure they are prepared to file in 2018.

As previously reported, federal contractors and other Title VII employers sighed collective relief when the federal government announced the indefinite suspension of the requirement to report W-2 pay data in the 2017 reporting cycle.

The EEO-1 Joint Reporting Committee later clarified the following:

  • The deadline to file EEO-1 reports for 2017 is March 31, 2018;
  • The Reports must be based on a payroll period in October, November or December, 2017; and,
  •  Filers may use the same EEO-1 form used in 2016.

Perhaps to atone for separating the VETS-4212 and EEO-1 reporting deadlines VETS has also clarified  that all federal contractors may pull a single data snapshot as of December 31, 2017 for both the EEO-1 report to be filed by March 31, 2018, and for the VETS-4212 report to be filed by September 30, 2018.

While the timing of the submission of the reports will remain different, employers looking for efficiencies can use a single snapshot as of the previous year’s December 31st, but are not required to do so:  employers may use any payroll period in the 4th quarter each year.

There is an added benefit for those contractors using a calendar-year AAP cycle:  the December 31, 2017 workforce snapshot may also be used for your 2018 plans.

The U.S. Department of Labor has quietly identified a new Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.  An industry news outlet is reporting DOL has confirmed Ondray T. Harris will be the new head of the agency.  A new update to OFCCP’s website lists him as the Director of the Agency. Interim Director Tom Dowd is listed as the Deputy Director.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Director Harris has been in a Senior Advisor role with the Department of Labor since this Summer.  Immediately prior to that he was a consultant in the Washing D.C. area.  From 2011 to 2013, Harris served as the Executive Director of the Public Employee Relations Board, a “quasi-judicial independent agency that adjudicates labor cases among agencies, labor unions, and union members.”  During the George W. Bush administration, Director Harris was a deputy chief of employment litigation at the Justice Department where he litigated cases “on behalf of the U.S. and military personnel” and “directed and reviewed investigations conducted by the sections attorneys for Title VII and USERRA cases.”  Director Harris began his career in the Virginia Attorney General’s office, where he spent a number of years consulting with agencies and their counsel on employment law issues and “litigated Title VII, Title VI, ADA, ADEA, First Amendment matters, and other employment law cases.”

We will update as soon as additional information and a formal announcement are available.

As of today, OFCCP remains without a new director.  According to Bloomberg News, an industry news outlet, the Department of Labor has confirmed Craig Leen has begun work as a “senior advisor” within OFCCP.  No additional information regarding his role was provided.  We will provide additional updates and details as we learn them.

In an unexpected, but much awaited move, it is anticipated Craig Leen will be named as the new head of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”).  While the Department of Labor has not formally confirmed or commented on this development, Leen’s appointment would come more than a year after Patricia Shiu departed the position in November 2016.  Since that time, Tom Dowd has held the position of interim Director at OFCCP.

Craig Leen currently serves as the City Attorney for Coral Gables, Florida.  During his tenure as the city’s top attorney, Leen reportedly “gained national attention for Coral Gables and its propensity to sue high-profile corporations and use the city’s legal muscle to pursue critics.”  In additional to his position with the City, Leen has also been an adjunct professor at Florida International University College of Law where Secretary of Labor, Alexander Acosta, to whom Leen would report, was Dean.

The City of Coral Gables’ biography of Lean notes he earned his law degree from Columbia Law School in 2000, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in 1997, where he double majored in Government and Economics.

Little is known about Leen’s position on OFCCP regulations, policies and practices or his intended direction for the Agency.  We will report any updates or insights as soon as we learn them so stay tuned for the latest developments. . .

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 to the minimum wage under the Executive Order which first went into effect January 1, 2015.  At that time the minimum wage was set at $10.10/hour.  In 2016, the rate increased to $10.15/hour.  The current rate, which went into effective January 1, 2017, is $10.20/hour.  Pursuant to the terms of the Executive Order, the U.S. Secretary of Labor reviews the rate on an annual basis to determine whether to increase the wage rate.

VETS has announced a 45-day extension to the 2017 VETS-4212 filing deadline.  The deadline has been extended from September 30, 2017 to November 15, 2017.  In a post on it’s website, VETS stated

NOTICE: In order to accommodate the needs of those impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Federal contractors who file their VETS-4212 Reports by November 15, 2017 will not be cited for failure to file a timely Report or failure to comply with Federal regulations

As we previously reported, this year’s VETS reporting is unaffected by the changes to the EEO-1 reporting.  However, next year’s reporting can be filed using a snapshot pulled as of December 31, 2018 – which can also be used for the March 2018 EEO-1 report.

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 alternatives.

In its approval of the U.S. Department of Labor’s appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2018, the Appropriations Committee Report from the U.S. Senate reported the following: 

 The Committee rejects the budget’s proposal to begin plans to merge the OFCCP with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Committee strongly urges OFCCP to find efficiencies and cost savings, including the consolidation of offices, within its current budget structure. This should include a review of the current OFCCP office locations and infrastructure across the country and whether these offices align with current workload needs.

The committee directed OFCCP to report to the Committee with an inventory of current infrastructure and a plan to consolidate and right-size the agency 180 days after enactment of the Act.

On the House of Representative side of things, its recent appropriations bill does not directly address the merger but instead directs “OFCCP to submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate within 160 days of enactment of this Act on its efforts and the status of implementing each of the GAO recommendations.”

As we previously shared, a September 2016 General Accounting Office report made six recommendations for OFCCP improvements, including to the audit-selection process.

While the wrangling over the OFCCP budget continues, it is important to note that pursuant to an ultimate resolution of proposals, OFCCP’s budget could be significantly reduced from the FY 2017 figure of $105 million.  President Trump proposed a budget of $88 million; the Senate currently proposes a budget of $103.5 million; and the House proposes $94.5 million.

Stay tuned as we continue to monitor the OFCCP/EEOC merger proposal and OFCCP’s budget.