DCI Consulting Blog

OFCCP has proposed new scheduling letters for the Promotion and Accommodation Focused Reviews. Similar to the final letters for the Section 503 and VEVRAA focused reviews, these letters are condensed versions of the standard compliance review letter...

With the release of Directive 2021-02, OFCCP has completed its commitment to the OFCCP principles, first announced in 2018, of Certainty, Efficiency, Recognition, and Transparency (or CERT).The Directive, effective December 11, 2020, commits the...

Directive 2021-01* has extended OFCCP’s current enforcement moratorium for all Veterans Affairs Health Benefits Program (VAHBP) providers** by two years, through May 7, 2023. Historically, OFCCP has provided a moratorium for healthcare...

This week, The U.S. Department of Labor released a finalized rule that eases anti-discrimination restrictions for religious employers that contract with the federal government.

Under the new rule, religious federal contractors and sub-contractors...

On November 23, 2020, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) released new FAQs to clarify requirements of new California pay data reporting set to go into effect next year. As commented on in our October 1, 2020 and November...

On Friday, November 20, the Department of Defense Pricing and Contracting Director issued a notice on Class Deviation 2021-O0001 – Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping. This notice puts into place Section 4 of EO 13950, which requires contractors...

Join DCI's Joanna Colosimo, Director of Compliance & Workforce Analytics and Principal Consultant, and Tyler Wurtz, HR Analyst, as they sit down to discuss the new California Fair Pay Act.

To visit the FAQ page, click here.

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On Tuesday, November 3^rd, OFCCP released a new Technical Assistance Guide (TAG) for supply and service federal contractors.

According to OFCCP, Federal supply and service contractors can use this technical assistance guide as a self-assessment tool...

On Thursday, October 29, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc (LDF) filed a constitutional challenge to Executive Order 13950, labeling it “an extraordinary and unprecedented” federal act that violates first amendment rights and “strikes...

This morning OFCCP released RIN 1250-ZA01 “Request for Information; Race and Sex Stereotyping and Scapegoating” (RFI) as was required by the new Executive Order 13950 and hosted a brief stakeholder call; both are described below. Additionally, a new

On Thursday, October 15, The Institute for Workplace Equality released a statement reiterating its support surrounding affirmative action and diversity & inclusion. In the statement, The Institute says:

"The Institute for Workplace Equality (“The...

"Does Executive Order 13950 prohibit...

Included in the list of legislation signed yesterday by Governor Newsom of California was Senate Bill 973 requiring California employers with 100 or more employees to submit a pay data report annually beginning March 31, 2021. This is modeled after...

On September 30, 2020, David Cohen, DCI President, Amanda Bowman, Associate Principal Consultant, and Dave Sharrer, EEO Compliance Manager & Senior Consultant, were published in Law360. Their expert analysis "Affirmative Action Proposal Could Boost...

Yesterday, September 28, OFCCP issued a press release regarding their enforcement of the President’s Executive Order issued last week. The press release can be found on OFCCP’s website and outlines information about a newly established Complaint...

As a continuation of an order given last week to all Federal Agencies, on September 22, 2020, the president issued an Executive Order (EO) that applies to executive departments and agencies (agencies), Uniformed Services, Federal contractors, and...

This afternoon, Wednesday, September 23, OFCCP published new landing pages for the upcoming promotions and accommodations focused reviews. Both types of focused reviews are new to the 2020 CSAL; for more information, please refer to our previous...

As we noted last week, the 2020 Corporate Scheduling Announcement List was released and posted on OFCCP’s website. DCI recently evaluated the CSAL and identified that OFCCP has modified the list that was originally released on September 11, 2020....

This Monday, September 14, 2020, a new information collection called the AAP Verification Program Interface, was published in the Federal Register. AAP Verification has been much anticipated since the release of the 2016 GAO Report (and follow-up...

Today, Friday, September 11^th, the OFCCP released two new Corporate Scheduling Lists (CSAL), posted to the FOIA Library: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/foia/library#Q1

There are 2,250 contractor establishments on the Supply & Service CSAL list...

Director Craig Leen of the OFCCP has published a memorandum granting a National Interest Exemption for hurricane-relief contracts. Effective August 27, 2020 through October 27, 2020, organizations entering into Federal contracts specifically to aid...

Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Larry Merck issued an order in May 2020 ruling against WMS Solutions, LLC (WMS) on a majority of violations filed by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) in June 2015. WMS, based out of Baltimore,...

The NILG virtual conference is underway and well-represented by OFCCP, law firms, industrial and organizational psychologists, labor economists, and federal contractor professionals. There was one session in which the OFCCP established a panel of...

Congratulations to Michael Aamodt, DCI Principal Consultant and 2020 Winner of the Stephen E. Bemis Memorial Award!

This award, presented by IPAC, is intended to honor individuals (like the award’s namesake) who have made tangible contributions to...

EEOC announced Thursday, July 16, 2020, that they will fund a statistical study of the collected EEO-1 Component 2 data. The Commission voted unanimously that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on National...

Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) initiatives are organizational goals focused on an inclusive work culture where all employees are valued, able to perform at their optimal level, and treated fairly. Companies use a multimodal approach to D&I by...

EEOC sent email notifications to employers the week of July 6^th, advising that changes have been made to the mailing address, telephone and fax numbers for EEOC. The notification also instructed employers to send all EEO-1 data collection inquiries,...

The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically altered the current (and future) state of organizations. In some instances, organizations need to drastically slow down or pause operations.

Businesses in this “pause” mode may be faced with downsizing or...

Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released their respective regulatory agendas for Spring 2020. The items on the agendas include rules in various stages of enactment, i.e. pre-rules,...

Many of you may remember that the OFCCP released a second, VEVRRA supplemental, CSAL list “in honor of Veteran’s Day” back on November 8, 2019.  Until now, the list has remained dormant as the compliance officers continued to work on the original...

OFCCP recently published a final rule and confirmed the agency does not have jurisdiction over TRICARE  providers. TRICARE is a federal health care program for active and retired military personnel, their families, survivors and certain former...

On June 22, 2020, Joanna Colosimo, Director of Compliance & Workforce Analytics, and Jon Geier, Principal Consultant, were published in Law360. Their expert analysis "Employer Considerations for a Workforce Reduction Analysis" can be read here: ...

The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically altered the current (and future) state of organizations. In some instances, the need to hire and train employees has accelerated.

For these organizations, the method must be effective, quick, and...

The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed the current state of government, private sector, and non-profit organizations. And, the impacts of the crisis have varied within organizations in unique ways. Dynamics such as organizations’ business...

A message from our CEO, David Cohen:

I want to take a moment to reflect upon the recent events and how painful it is to watch. There is no question that we have a lot of work to do in this country to break down barriers and heal our racial divide. 

...

OFCCP provided notification today that the modified disability self-id collection form has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  OFCCP hopes this streamlined form will increase the response rate of applicants and employees who...

On May 7, 2020, EEOC announced in a Federal Register notice that there will be no EEO-1 data collection in 2020 due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

This notice is pending approval of the EEO-1 Component 1 information collection by the...

OFCCP announced three new directives today, Friday April 17, 2020. The Directives are designed to maximize the effectiveness of OFCCP’s compliance assistance resources, increase accountability, and resolve federal contractor compliance evaluations...

Consistent with timing in previous years, OFCCP has recently updated the hiring benchmark for protected veterans.  In annual affirmative action plans (AAPs), comparing the number of hires to a predetermined veteran benchmark is a required element of...

On Tuesday, April 7, 2020, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved OFCCP’s information collection request for two new compliance check scheduling letters for the construction industry.  One version is for construction contractors whose...

Several proposed, modified letters are now final for Supply and Service Contractors, as well as Construction Contractors. Revisions to the Supply and Service letters were first proposed in April 2019 (with updates in July 2019). All six letters are...

Last week, EEOC published a notice of information collection in the Federal Register for a 30-day comment period. As with the initial 60-Day Notice, EEOC continues to seek a three-year approval for the standard EEO-1 data collection (for years 2019,...

The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor has issued the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which expands upon employee paid leave rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. Private employers with fewer than 500 employees, and...

The National Industry Liaison Group (NILG) recently communicated and worked with OFCCP’s national office to clarify contractor expectations during the COVID-19 pandemic.  OFCCP has agreed to institute the following protocols for all contractors:

• ...

The National Industry Liaison Group (NILG) Board released an announcement to its members on March 18, 2020, followed by a related message the following day released from OFCCP via their subscription email list.  Both messages made clear that OFCCP...

On March 17, 2019, OFCCP Director Craig Leen issued a National Interest Exemption memo granting limited exemptions and waivers from OFCCP-enforced requirements. This allows new federal contracts and subcontracts specifically providing COVID-19...

On February 25, 2020, Joanna Colosimo, Director of EEO Compliance and Lisa Harpe, Principal Consultant, were published in Law360. Their expert analysis" OFCCP Draft Bias Rule Overrelies On Statistical Significance" can be read here: ...

Join Operations Deputy Yevonessa Hall and HR Analyst Tyler Wurtz as they walk through all of the AAP resources that DCI has to offer. Visit our resources page here.

OFCCP’s FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification, just released Monday, February 10, shows an increase in requested funds as compared to FY2020 (103.6M) in anticipation of conducting more compliance evaluations (i.e., full compliance reviews,...

EEOC is officially able to close their collection of employer pay data for 2017 and 2018 filing years. Judge Chutkan granted EEOC’s motion requesting completion of the data collection. As previously discussed in this blog, EEOC has repeatedly...

In December 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California made a decisive ruling in the ongoing case of The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), et al. vs. U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Specifically, the court denied...

On January 8, 2020, David Cohen, DCI President, Joanna Colosimo, Director of EEO Compliance, and Jon Geier, Principal Consultant, were published in Law360. Their expert analysis "Pay Equity Shortcuts Create Risks For Employers" can be read here:  ...

OFCCP ended 2019 by releasing a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) attempting to codify procedures the agency uses to resolve alleged violations of affirmative action laws under the agency’s jurisdiction. The regulation would establish differing...

EEOC submitted an update to the court on the 2017 & 2018 EEO-1 Component 2 data collection, as required to do every 21 days. As of January 3, 2020, 86% of eligible filers have completed submission of Component 2 data, with 85.3% submitting for 2017...

OFCCP was active over the holiday season releasing an updated Federal Contract Compliance Manual (FCCM). The full manual, as well as revision highlights by chapter, can be viewed on the OFCCP website. Compliance officers use the FCCM as a guide to...