The “OFCCP Week in Review” is a simple, fast and direct summary of relevant happenings in the OFCCP regulatory environment published every Friday. Here are this week’s developments:
February 3, 2015: The Office of Disability Employment Policy recently made a helpful resource guide available for employers to assist with ‘Recruiting, Hiring, Retaining, & Promoting People w/ Disabilities.’ This guide is a product of the Curb Cuts to the Middle Class Initiative and can be found here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/employing_people_with_disabilities_toolkit_february_3_2015_v2.pdf The Curb Cuts to the Middle Class Initiative includes participation by agencies across the federal government, including the Department of Education, Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice, Department of Veterans Affairs, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Council on Disability, Office of Personnel Management, and the Social Security Administration.
February 10, 2015: The OFCCP has taken a proactive approach in assisting employers with their implementation of Executive Order 13672 (LGBT Final Rule) in the release of a guide with LGBT Resources for Federal Contractors. This guide includes a directory of organizations that offer resources and guidance to employers related to creating an inclusive workplace for LGBT employees. The resource guide can be found here: http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/LGBT/LGBT_resources.html
February 12, 2015: OFCCP has settled allegations of pay discrimination at the Lahey Clinic Hospital in Burlington, Massachusetts. An investigation into the medical center’s employment practices revealed that certain female housekeepers were paid less than their male counterparts between 2010 and 2012. The clinic will pay $190,000 in back wages, interest and salary adjustments to 38 women. For more on this case, please see the press release attached here and available online.
Additional News: OFCCP NOW BUNDLING “BLANKET PURCHASE AGREEMENTS (“BPAs”):” BPAs are a popular form of contract the federal government uses to purchase (typically) supplies over the course of a Fiscal Year to avoid creating a new contract for each individual purchase and delivery. Rather, under a BPA, a federal contract officer may simply place a “call” against the BPA (the master contract in effect) to procure the good or service. One values a BPA for OFCCP jurisdictional and AAP threshold purposes by adding together all of the calls placed against the BPA. No problem. OFCCP has now taken the position, though, that a BPA which the parties extend beyond the first year is valued by the adding together the value of all of the calls in each year the parties extend the contract, and not just for each year of the contract, before it is modified, extended or altered to create a new contract in year two or year three, etc. As a result, OFCCP argues that more small federal contractors are covered by OFCCP’s regulations since adding together three or four years of contract calls extending, modifying and/or altering the original first year BPA often causes contractors to exceed OFCCP’s $10,000/$100,000 jurisdictional thresholds and its $50,000/$100,000 AAP thresholds.
THIS COLUMN IS MEANT TO ASSIST IN A GENERAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE CURRENT LAW AND PRACTICE RELATING TO OFCCP. IT IS NOT TO BE REGARDED AS LEGAL ADVICE. COMPANIES OR INDIVIDUALS WITH PARTICULAR QUESTIONS SHOULD SEEK ADVICE OF COUNSEL.
Reminder: If you have specific OFCCP compliance questions and/or concerns or wish to offer suggestions about future topics for the OFCCP Fox Report, please contact your membership representative at 866-268-6206 (for DE members), or send an email to Candee Chambers at candee@directemployers.org with your ideas.
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