April 15, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Discrimination Charges Filed With EEOC Dropped to 30-Year Low Last Year

According to final enforcement and litigation statistics for fiscal year (FY) 2021 (October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2021) released recently by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency received 61,331 charges of discrimination last year, the lowest annual total in the past 30 years, and the fifth year in a row in which the number of charges filed...
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April 15, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

DOJ Issues Guidance on Web Accessibility Under ADA’s Public Accommodation Title

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued guidance on web accessibility under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the part of the law that mandates accessibility requirements for places of public accommodation. The guidance clarifies DOJ’s stance that businesses that fall within the ADA’s definition of places of public accommodation, such as retail stores and restaurants,...
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April 08, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

New OFCCP Directive Signals Return of Aggressive Enforcement

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Director Jenny Yang has issued a second major policy directive in as many weeks, in this instance formally scrapping many of the cooperative compliance evaluation policies that were implemented by former Trump OFCCP Director Craig Leen. Director Yang’s newest directive follows on the controversial new directive (DIR 2022-01) she signed on March 15...
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April 08, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

OFCCP Posts New AAP-VI FAQs

No later than June 30 of this year, covered federal contractors and subcontractors must certify to the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) via an online “Affirmative Action Program Verification Interface (AAP-VI)” that they have developed and maintained Affirmative Action Programs (AAPs) in accordance with OFCCP’s regulations. And while covered federal contractors have been able to register...
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April 08, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Biden Administration Advancing Initiatives To Stem Alleged Anti-Competitive Practices

Employers may recall that last year we reported on a sweeping new Executive Order (E.O.) signed by President Biden that is designed to promote competition throughout the economy. We also predicted that it was only a matter of time before federal agencies began adopting policies pursuant to the E.O. that would impact workplace compliance. Recent events appear to bear that...
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April 08, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

New AG Guidelines on FOIA “Presumption of Openness” Could Impact Workforce Data Disclosure

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland recently issued new guidelines reminding federal agencies that the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) favors transparency and the disclosure of information in the government’s possession. Although the new guidelines don’t alter FOIA’s current exemptions from disclosure, the guidelines do send a strong signal that as a matter of policy the Biden Administration encourages the...
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April 01, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Comments Filed Urging USDA To Withdraw Blacklisting Proposal

Our affiliated non-profit association, the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), as filed written comments with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding that agency’s latest attempt to amend its procurement regulations to require USDA contractors to certify compliance with “all applicable labor laws” and deny contracts to bidders based on USDA’s assessment of their compliance records. As we reported recently,...
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March 25, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

OFCCP Once Again Proposing To Revise Its Enforcement Standards

The Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has published a formal proposal to once again revise the rules the agency follows for resolving alleged material violations discovered during a compliance evaluation. The proposed rule would amend the Enforcement Rule issued by the Trump OFCCP in late 2020 that established a framework regarding how discrimination allegations are...
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March 18, 2022
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Category: Affirmative Action and Diversity

New OFCCP Directive Instructs COs To Review Contractors’ “Pay Equity” Analyses

In the first agency directive issued since she was appointed, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Director Jenny Yang has instructed OFCCP compliance officers (COs) to collect and analyze federal contractors’ “pay equity audits” during routine compliance evaluations, regardless of whether those studies were conducted with the assistance of in-house or outside counsel under the “attorney-client privilege” or “attorney...
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March 18, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

EEOC, DOL, NLRB Once Again Promote Their Inter-Agency Anti-Retaliation Initiative

Top officials from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently held a second online discussion on their joint, inter-agency initiative to raise awareness about workplace retaliation, particularly with respect to so-called vulnerable populations (i.e., migrant workers, workers with limited-English proficiency, and low-wage workers). The February 24...
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