Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is reinstating the Monthly Employment Utilization Report (CC-257), which will require businesses with federal construction contracts to report employee work hours and headcounts by race/ethnicity, gender, and trade.

A bill seeking to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices passed out of the House Oversight Committee on a 23-17 vote. The Dismantle DEI Act, led by Congressman Michael Cloud (R-TX), outlines an effort to end all DEI-related activities within federal agencies, prevent DEI mandates in federal contracting and grants, and ensure that federal accreditation bodies prioritize merit and qualifications.

On October 30, 2024, Judge Sim Lake of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction, halting the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) from proceeding with its administrative action against ABM Industry Groups.

On October 29, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) notice, inviting federal contractors to respond to FOIA requests that the OFCCP received related to federal contractors’ 2021 Type 2 EEO-1 Consolidated Reports.

On July 26, 2024, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) released directive 2024-01 , which outlines updated procedures for expedited pre-enforcement conciliation. The directive provides guidance consistent with the OFCCP’s final rule titled Pre-Enforcement Notice and Conciliation Procedures which went into effect in September of 2023 (You can read our previous article regarding this final rule here).

As financial institutions consider their ever-growing list of compliance obligations, they would be remiss in not evaluating their employment-related obligations as a federal contractor.

On May 24, 2024, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council) issued a notice and request for comments regarding a proposed information collection for federal contractors—FAR 52.204-10(d)(2) for first-tier subcontract information and FAR 52.204-10(d)(3) for executive compensation of first-tier subcontractors. The proposed rule notes this type of collection was previously approved, and there is now a renewed focus.

The start of spring has brought with it important deadlines and announcements from the EEOC, OFCCP, and the OMB regarding the reporting of employee demographic data to the federal government.

As announced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) earlier this year, the 2023 EEO-1 data collection process will open on April 30, 2024 with a deadline to file by Tuesday, June 4, 2024. Private employers with at least 100 employees and federal contractors with at least 50 employees can begin to report their data as of April 30, 2024 in order to meet the deadline.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recently published a final rule titled “Pre-enforcement Notice and Conciliation Procedures.”  This rule rescinds the evidentiary standards from the 2020 rule titled “Nondiscrimination Obligations of Federal Contractors and Subcontractors: Procedures to Resolve Potential Employment Discrimination,” which required specific pre-determination notice requirements and certain evidentiary standards. In a blog post, the OFCCP explains that the “new final rule restores flexibility to OFCCP’s pre-enforcement and conciliation procedures, promotes efficiency in resolving cases, strengthens enforcement and promotes alignment of the standards of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”