DCI Consulting Blog

The DCI team has released several communications on the recent Diversity in the Technology Sector report. The final recommendation made by the GAO is that “the Director of OFCCP should evaluate the Functional Affirmative Action Program to assess its...

In its recent report on Diversity in the Technology Sector, the GAO made a recommendation that OFCCP take steps toward requiring contractors to set separate placement goals for individual race/ethnicity groups in their AAPs, rather than setting a...

Director of EEO Compliance, Joanna Colosimo, and Principal Consultant Mike Aamodt discuss GAO's new report on Diversity in the Technology Center. DCI wrote a post digesting initial thoughts on the report on December 1, 2017. To read the full...

Ondray T. Harris, former deputy chief of employment litigation at the Justice Department (DOJ) during the George W. Bush administration, is now leading the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) effective Dec. 10, a DOL spokesman...

In its recent report on Diversity in the Technology Sector, the GAO made three recommendations related to OFCCP’s audit procedures. The report outlines detailed recommendations to both EEOC and OFCCP, but our focus in this blog are the...

On November 30, 2017 the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on Diversity in the Technology Sector and how federal agencies such as EEOC and OFCCP could improve oversight.  

Recommendations from the report include the...

On November 20, 2017, Employment Law Now released Part 2 of DCI President David Cohen's interview with Michael Schmidt titled: I-19 – Part 2 of Interview on Conducting Internal Pay Equity Audits. This is a follow up to Part 1 of this series. To...

DCI's Director of Software Fred Satterwhite, M.S., M.T.S., sits down to tell us how DCI's proprietary software EEOPay will answer 3 important questions about your organization.

 To learn more about EEOPay, visit: Salary Equity Software: EEOPay

Two recent OFCCP rulings in the Pacific region have clarified information exchange obligations between contractors and OFCCP in audit matters. Although we have summarized the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) rulings in both the Google (OFCCP v....

On November 8, 2017, DCI President David Cohen was featured as a guest expert in Part 1 of Employment Law Now's latest podcast, titled: I-18- DC Update on Joint Employer and OT Issues, and Part 1 of an Expert Interview on Pay Equity Audits. The free...

VETS announced mid-September that the deadline for filing VETS-4212 reports would be extended to November 15, 2017 to accommodate the needs of those companies impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Federal contractors who file by the extended...

DCI Consulting Group, Inc. is pleased to announce the new Client Resource portal, exclusively for DCI Clients. Our portal is a one-stop, centralized library of ‘how-to’ guides for the busy compliance, talent/acquisition, diversity, and...

DCI Principal Consultants Mike Aamodt, Lisa Harpe, and Murray Simpson have authored a white paper with DCI President David Cohen titled The Science, Art, and Whimsy of Making Salary Adjustments Following a Proactive Pay Equity Study. David...

On October 17, 2017, the National Industry Liaison Group (NILG) hosted a webinar for its constituents. This event provided an opportunity for those who could not attend the ILG Conference in San Antonio to hear synopses of the content presented by...

On October 15th, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a pay equity report that would require employers with 500 or more employees to file a statement with the Secretary of State with information on gender wage differentials.

The AB-1209 bill...

One of the things The Institute for Workplace Equality is most well-known for is the Annual OFCCP Enforcement Update, which this year featured DCI’s own David Cohen along with Jon Geier, a partner at Paul Hastings. The recorded webinar is free to...

Join Senior Consultant Rosemary Cox, M.S., as she discusses important tips to make your website accessible.

The proposed merger for fiscal year 2018 is on its last legs. The merger was originally intended to streamline government processes and cut costs as part of the Trump Administration’s new focus, but has encountered several barriers in practice.

...

Yesterday the National Women’s Law Center and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed FOIA requests directed at OMB, seeking information to shed light on the decision making process that resulted in its recent decision to halt the...

Instead of rescinding President Obama’s Executive Order 13658, which raised the minimum wage federal contractors are required to pay under certain contracts, the DOL announced in the September 15 2017 Federal Register that effective January 1, 2018,...

On September 19, 2017, the OFCCP held the first Compliance Assistance Town Hall at the Department of Labor in Washington, DC. The 4 hour event was a structured opportunity for the contractor community to provide actionable recommendations aimed at...

The Office of Management and Budget’s decision to suspend the pay data component of the EEO-1 report has left many employers with questions regarding what’s next for their EEO-1 reporting requirements. As of September 1st, the EEO-1 Joint Reporting...

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...

DCI Consulting Group, Inc. is pleased to announce the recent hire of Dr. Murray Simpson and Dr. Lisa Harpe. Both Dr. Simpson and Dr. Harpe have joined DCI as Principal Consultants. They bring valuable experience to DCI’s Personnel Selection and...

On August 31, 2017, the Department of Labor issued a press release in support of Texas’s response to Hurricane Harvey. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is temporarily suspending select federal contractor requirements,...

The OMB’s Office of Information Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) decided that the new EEO-1 component 2 report will stay indefinitely. EEOC will be publishing additional guidance in the Federal Register. DCI is closely monitoring and will report out once...

On June 23, 2017, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed an amicus brief in the 2^nd Circuit appeal of Zarda v. Altitude Express, expressing a position they have held since 2015: “Sexual orientation discrimination is, by definition,...

President Donald Trump has appointed Dr. Daniel M. Gade to be the next EEOC commissioner. A native of Minot, ND, Gade will be the only EEOC commissioner who is not an attorney. He is an expert in both veteran’s and disability issues, a decorated...

The Industry Liaison Group’s National Conference was held August 1-4^th in San Antonio, Texas. This conference brings together federal contractors, Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCCP), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and...

On August 18, 2017, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS), an agency of the Department of Labor, released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to propose regulations implementing the Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing...

In an effort to shift to a renewed focus on compliance assistance, OFCCP has scheduled multiple Compliance Assistance Town Hall Meetings. These meetings will be open to the public, but will be of particular interest to human resource managers, equal...

At the 2017 National ILG (NILG) conference held in San Antonio, TX, Thomas Dowd, acting Director of OFCCP, and Debra Carr, Director of Policy, Planning and Program Development, discussed what to expect from the agency in the near future.

Some key...

In June, The Institute for Workplace Equality sent a letter to the Department of Labor (DOL) requesting that the filing period for VETS coincide with the EEO-1’s March 2018 filing. The Institute pointed out that this would allow contractors to use...

There is no official news from the EEOC on the status of the pay component of the revised EEO-1 reports. As of now, the EEO-1 reports are due March 31^st and required organizations will be required to report component 2 data in their filings for...

In a long-awaited ruling, Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Steven Berlin issued his recommended ruling in the Google matter. It is important to note that this case was not a trial about pay discrimination but simply whether OFCCP had the right to a...

President Trump has selected Janet Dhillon to serve as the next EEOC Chair and Commissioner. Dhillon was the general counsel of Burlington Stores and spent 13 years at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP. If confirmed, Dhillon would replace...

As noted by DCI, the Department of Labor’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal outlined initiatives and recommendations for merging the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by the end...

The month of June is typically when federal contractors begin preparations to pull data for the VETS 4212 and EEO-1 report filings. However, with the new March 2018 filing due date for the revised EEO-1 reporting, contractors are facing a unique...

The time has come that businesses need to take a serious look at their websites and accessibility. A Florida federal judge has ruled Winn-Dixie’s website violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“The factual findings demonstrate that...

The 43^rd annual national conference for the American Association for Access, Equity, and Diversity (AAAED) was held June 7-9, 2017 in Scottsdale, Arizona. This conference brings together diversity professionals from across the country, including EO...

OFCCP brought a lawsuit against Baker DC, LLC (Baker) alleging denial of access and contractor non-compliance with an ongoing compliance review, and thereby violating Executive Order 11246, Section 503, & VEVRAA. The defendant argued that they were...

The Department of Labor’s Fiscal Year 2018 (FY2018) budget proposal was released May 23, 2017.  The budget outlines the initiatives and priorities of the new administration, and as predicted by DCI, recommends merging the Office of Federal Contract...

The 32nd Annual Conference for the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) was held April 26-29, 2017 in Orlando, Florida. This conference brings together members of the I/O community, both practitioners and academics, to discuss...

Today, May 2nd, 2017, DCI Consulting Group announced the release of EEOPay, the latest version of DCI’s industry leading pay equity analysis software. Developed in response to expanded state laws, activist investors, international and U.S....

On April 27, 2017, the U.S. Senate confirmed Alexander Acosta as the 27^th U.S. Secretary of Labor. He was sworn in the next day, April 28^th. In the 60 to 38 vote, eight Democrats voted in favor of Acosta. In addition, the confirmation occurred just...

Between the periods of 2005-2007, OFCCP had several open compliance reviews with Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. establishments. In just the last month, three DOL administrative complaints for audits from this period were dismissed. Dismissals resulted...

The 32^nd Annual Conference for the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) will be held on April 26-29, 2017 in Orlando, Florida. DCI staff will be involved in a variety of sessions related to equal employment opportunity...

A private compensation discrimination case alleging Allsteel discriminated against three former female managers in pay was brought to the attention of the Eighth Circuit Court.  The court’s ruling on Dindinger v. Allsteel, Inc. deemed OFCCP’s...

Today, April 4, 2017, people across the United States will observe a national day to bring awareness around the gender pay gap. This date symbolizes how far into 2017 women must work to earn what men made in 2016, based on national pay averages.

On...

Trending in the technology industry is the Atlassian 2017 State of Diversity Report released publicly on the Atlassian website. The report highlights key outcomes of a survey that reached 1,400 technology workers across the United States without a...

As United States employers see increasing legislative requirements for eliminating the gender pay gap, companies around the world are seeing similar trends coming from their national governments.

On April 6, 2017, the UK’s Equality Act 2010 (Gender...

Today, March 31, 2017, the annual Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) hiring benchmark was updated on the VEVRAA Benchmark Database.  The benchmark – 6.7 percent – is effective March 31, 2017.

Contractors who adopted the...

On March 27, 2017, President Trump signed new legislation revoking Executive Order 13673 – Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces. As a result, federal contractors will not be required to report alleged labor violations to federal agencies as part of the bid...

President Trump recently released two items of interest to this industry: 1) an Executive Order on March 13^th directing the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to propose a plan with the assistance of each agency to reorganize the...

The case is Karlo v. Pittsburgh Glass Works, a class action ADEA ruling handed down on 1/10/17 [849 F.3d 61]. Pittsburgh Glass Works (the Company) terminated 100 employees across 40 locations in a RIF. There was no layoff plan. In the words of...

The case is Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital decided on 3/10/17 [2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 4301].  Three things make this case special.  First, it’s a 2-1 opinion that is likely to lead to an en banc ruling by all available 11^th Circuit judges. Second,...

The case is McKeny v. Middleton, decided on 3/16/17 in the Southern District of Ohio [2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37912]. Timothy McKeny, an assistant professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Ohio University, was denied tenure by Dean Middleton...

DCI has just learned that OFCCP began to send out audit scheduling letters on March 17^th. At this time we are not certain how many were sent out, but we do know that 800 CSALs (Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letters) were sent to contractor...

With the recent news on diversity and inclusion challenges surfacing at Uber, CEO Travis Kalanick shared workforce diversity data related to technology teams. It was reported that Uber had 15.1% women in technical staff positions. Although other...

As noted in a recent blog, 800 Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letters (CSAL or courtesy letter) were sent to contractor establishments on February 17, 2017. CSALs serve to give contractors advanced notice that one (or more) of their...

As outlined in the Pay Transparency rule, federal contractors who enter into a new or modified contract of $10,000 or more on or after January 11, 2016 must not discharge or otherwise discriminate against employees or job applicants for discussing,...

On February 16, Alexander Acosta, Dean of Florida International University (FIU), was nominated for Secretary of Labor, after the first nominee Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination a day before his confirmation hearing. Mr. Acosta has a vast amount...

Last week, a Bush administration attorney, Nicholas Geale, was quietly named the Acting Solicitor of Labor.  His name and contact information has been updated on the DOL key personnel website as both the Acting and Deputy Solicitor.

Geale previously...

DCI has confirmed with OFCCP that a new round of CSAL letters were officially mailed as of February 17th. The letters were sent directly to establishments and “Frequently Asked Questions” resources have been updated on the Department of Labor’s...

Through our previous blog posts, we have kept our readers updated on changes to EEO-1 reporting scheduled to go into effect March 2018. Recently, President Trump put forth a regulatory freeze on new and pending regulations, which affects the revised...

President Trump’s office issued a press release on January 31st, stating his intention to continue enforcing Executive Order 13672. This order was issued by President Obama in July 2014, amending Executive Order 11246 to extend protection from...

The OFCCP uses an administratively neutral process called the Federal Contractor Selection System (FCSS) to select contractor establishments for audit. Contractors selected by the FCSS historically have been sent Corporate Scheduling Announcement...

In researching Judge Gorsuch’s record, I found 13 relevant employment discrimination cases.* By my count, 9 were favorable to employers and four were fully or partially favorable to employees. Sizing up a potential justice is, of course, more than a...

What does this mean for you? The current form expires on January 31, 2017, so Federal Contractors will need to update their self-id forms. For some of you this may require a system update and for others it may simply be using the new form. Since the...

President Trump has named Commissioner Victoria A. Lipnic the Acting Chair of EEOC. Lipnic has served as an EEOC Commissioner since 2010 and she was also unanimously confirmed in 2015 by the senate to serve her second term as Commissioner ending...

On Inauguration Day, the White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, communicated President Trump’s plan for managing the Federal regulatory process, which places a temporary freeze on any new and pending regulations. This regulatory freeze is...

The EEOC delivered the final rule on affirmative action for individuals with disabilities in federal employment—an amendment to Section 501 regulations. This rule further clarifies the affirmative action obligations in recruitment, retention, and...

Recent litigation against the Twin Peaks restaurant chain has sparked renewed interest in the BFOQ defense, and provides yet another example to employers that hiring practices involving the selection of individuals on the basis of protected...

Mandatory agreement to binding arbitration of employment disputes as a condition of employment was upheld under the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 (FAA) in Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corporation (1991) [500 U.S. 20] in a case in which two...

This case, decided on 12/28/16 by the 1st Circuit Court, was (at least to me) at first blush, uninspiring. After reading the case, I believe it has the likelihood of setting a very important precedent regarding the third phase (or prong) in adverse...

It seems that OFCCP and the Department of Labor (DOL) has been active in early 2017. So far in January we have seen a number of press release worthy settlements and lawsuits. This week, in addition to the lawsuit with JPMorgan Chase, DOL released...

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co for paying a class of 93 female employees lower than their male counterparts in various professional positions (e.g., Application Developer Lead II,...

LexisNexis Risk Solutions, the computer-assisted legal research service, will pay over $1.2 million to resolve systemic pay discrimination against women after the result of two OFCCP compliance reviews in the southeast region.

The company settled...

On January 9, 2017, Governor Cuomo of New York proposed a progressive agenda for the state which included signing two state Executive Orders designed to eliminate the wage gap.

New York Executive Order 161 prohibits asking applicants about their...