by Patricia A. Schaeffer, Vice President-Regulatory Affairs
This is the time of year when federal agencies release their semi-annual regulatory agendas, as required by Executive Order 11286 and the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The agenda lists all regulations that are scheduled for review or development during the next 12 months or that have been finalized since the publication of the last agenda.
Here are the key highlights from the latest semi-annual agendas released by the EEOC and the Department of Labor on April 30, 2007:
EEOC:
1. Revision of Race and Ethnicity Data Collection Method: A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is scheduled for release by August 2007 to conform the EEOC’s rules to a key change for the revised EEO-1. EEOC will propose to make employee self-identification the preferred method for collecting race and ethnic data on employees. The current rule permits employers to gather this data from revised surveys or from employment records.
2. Coverage Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act: A final rule is scheduled for release by September 2007 to revise relevant portions of its regulations to conform to the Supreme Court ruling in General Dynamics Land Systems v. Cline, 401 U.S. 581 (2004). The Court held in this case that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) only prohibits age-based discrimination against relatively older individuals. It rejected the EEOC’s position that the ADEA also prohibits age-based discrimination against relatively younger individuals who are age 40 or over.
OFCCP:
1. Government Contractors, Affirmative Action Requirements, Revision of the Employer Information Report (EEO-1 Report): A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is scheduled for release by June 2007. The proposed rule would amend certain sections of OFCCP’s regulations to correspond to the new EEO-1 form as published in the Federal Register on November 28, 2005. The new EEO-1 Report contains revised racial and ethnic categories and job categories.
2. Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination Obligations of Contractors and Subcontractors Regarding Disabled, Recently Separated, Other Protected, and Armed Forces Service Medal Programs: OFCCP is scheduled to release a final rule by June 2007 that implements the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) to conform to the Jobs for Veterans’ Act (JVA).
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and Training:
1. Jobs for Veterans Act of 2002: Contract Threshold and Eligibility Groups for Federal Contractor Program: VETS has scheduled a final action by July 2007 to implement changes required by the Jobs for Veterans Act (JVA). JVA continues the collection for the recently separated veterans category, but changed the definition for that category to include any veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military ground, naval or air service during the 3-year period beginning on the date of such veteran’s discharge or release from active duty. Additionally, federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to report the total number of all current employees in 9 job categories for each hiring location. This proposal will assist VETS in meeting the statutory requirement of annually collecting the VETS-100 Report.
DCI will continue to monitor and report on these regulatory developments as they become available.