At the 2012 National Industry Liaison Group (NILG) conference in Hawaii, OFCCP announced that it would be making its scheduling announcement list publically available on its website as a service to federal contractors. The scheduling announcement list is the list of companies that would be received a pre-scheduling notice from OFCCP informing these companies that they would be subject to an affirmative action compliance review. These pre-scheduling notices (formally called a corporate scheduling announcement letter or CSAL) are NOT the letter actually opening a review. Instead, they are, in OFCCP's words, a "courtesy notification" of an impending review. (For more information on CSALs, see our earlier blog post on this subject.)
On Thursday, July 18, 2013, OFCCP made a portion of the 2012-13 scheduling announcement list publically available on its website. The list could be viewed at http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/SAL/SAL_MidAtlantic.htm. By the next day, however, the list had my disappeared from the website. At the 2013 NILG conference in Indianapolis, which occurred at the end of July, OFCCP explained that the scheduling announcement list had been posted in error and that the agency had not intended for the list to be publically released. OFCCP has made no further commitments to making its scheduling announcement list available on its website.
Reaction from federal contractors and subcontractors to having the scheduling announcement list posted on the OFCCP website has been mixed. Some large contractors were looking forward to having one source to review in order to determine how many establishments would be undergoing a compliance review. OFCCP no longer sends a unified listing of all establishments at a company that will be undergoing review to a corporate headquarters office, instead sending the pre-scheduling notice directly to the establishment that will be undergoing review. This has been a problem for certain larger organizations. However, some contractors, both large and small, have been troubled by the idea of having the names of establishments to be reviewed released to the general public.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
VETS Encounters Technical Difficulties with System Used to File VETS-100/100A Report
It appears that the Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS) is once again having problems with the on-line system used to file the annual VETS-100 and VETS-100A reports. This has been something of an annual issue and it’s not clear why VETS can’t seem to develop a system that allows for the effective filing of these reports. However, for the moment, companies will need to wait to file for 2013.
Federal contractors and subcontractors are required to file the VETS-100 and/or VETS-100A report in the third quarter of each year. We believe that almost without exception companies should be filing the VETS-100A report rather than the VETS-100 report, as the VETS-100 report is only used by companies that have unmodified federal contracts from earlier than December of 2003. A very small number of companies have contracts which are that old, and almost all (if not all) of these contracts have been modified in some way. Thus, companies should be filing the VETS-100A report.
OFCCP is routinely asking for copies of the latest VETS-100 or 100A filings during compliance reviews, and thus it is important to file the report. It's simply not clear when companies will be able to do so for 2013. VETS notice about the VETS-100/100A filing says "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties with the VETS 100/100A filing systems and we are not able to receive filings at the present time. We hope to have these system issues resolved shortly and appreciate your patience."
Federal contractors and subcontractors are required to file the VETS-100 and/or VETS-100A report in the third quarter of each year. We believe that almost without exception companies should be filing the VETS-100A report rather than the VETS-100 report, as the VETS-100 report is only used by companies that have unmodified federal contracts from earlier than December of 2003. A very small number of companies have contracts which are that old, and almost all (if not all) of these contracts have been modified in some way. Thus, companies should be filing the VETS-100A report.
OFCCP is routinely asking for copies of the latest VETS-100 or 100A filings during compliance reviews, and thus it is important to file the report. It's simply not clear when companies will be able to do so for 2013. VETS notice about the VETS-100/100A filing says "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties with the VETS 100/100A filing systems and we are not able to receive filings at the present time. We hope to have these system issues resolved shortly and appreciate your patience."
Thursday, August 1, 2013
OFCCP Sends Final Version of Regulations Regarding Persons with Disabilities to OMB
OFCCP has been busy this week.
On Wednesday, July 31, OFCCP sent the final version of the agency's proposed revisions to its regulations regarding persons with disabilities to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This follows OFCCP's submission of the final version of its proposed revisions to the veterans regulations on July 30. As with the veterans regulations, approval by OMB is the final step before the revisions to the regulations regarding persons with disabilities would become effective.
OFCCP first published its proposed revisions to the regulations regarding persons with disabilities in December of 2011. While there were many comments from the public concerning the proposed veterans regulations, there were even more concerning the disability regulations, including a very substantial number of concerns raised by federal contractors and subcontractors and their representatives. OFCCP had taken no formal action on the proposed revisions to the regulations regarding persons with disabilities until submitting the final version of its revisions on July 31.
In our related post on the veterans regulations, we noted that there has been much speculation as to why there was such a delay in providing a final version of the regulations to OMB. Regardless of what was preventing OFCCP from submitting final regulations previously, the agency has acted in a dramatic fashion in the last few days.
As we noted in our post on the veterans regulations, it is not clear when OMB will act on OFCCP's submission of its final revisions to the regulations regarding persons with disabilities. The public comments regarding these regulations raised many important concerns and OMB will have much to consider before deciding whether to approve these regulations. Whether the revised regulations receive approval from OMB may depend in part on changes that OFCCP has made to its initial submission.
Documentation of OMB's receipt of the final regulations regarding persons with disabilities can be found on the reginfo.gov website http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=123245. Unfortunately, there is no formal way to view the final version of the revised regulations until OMB makes a decision about these regulations or until OFCCP decides to release them to the public.
On Wednesday, July 31, OFCCP sent the final version of the agency's proposed revisions to its regulations regarding persons with disabilities to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This follows OFCCP's submission of the final version of its proposed revisions to the veterans regulations on July 30. As with the veterans regulations, approval by OMB is the final step before the revisions to the regulations regarding persons with disabilities would become effective.
OFCCP first published its proposed revisions to the regulations regarding persons with disabilities in December of 2011. While there were many comments from the public concerning the proposed veterans regulations, there were even more concerning the disability regulations, including a very substantial number of concerns raised by federal contractors and subcontractors and their representatives. OFCCP had taken no formal action on the proposed revisions to the regulations regarding persons with disabilities until submitting the final version of its revisions on July 31.
In our related post on the veterans regulations, we noted that there has been much speculation as to why there was such a delay in providing a final version of the regulations to OMB. Regardless of what was preventing OFCCP from submitting final regulations previously, the agency has acted in a dramatic fashion in the last few days.
As we noted in our post on the veterans regulations, it is not clear when OMB will act on OFCCP's submission of its final revisions to the regulations regarding persons with disabilities. The public comments regarding these regulations raised many important concerns and OMB will have much to consider before deciding whether to approve these regulations. Whether the revised regulations receive approval from OMB may depend in part on changes that OFCCP has made to its initial submission.
Documentation of OMB's receipt of the final regulations regarding persons with disabilities can be found on the reginfo.gov website http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=123245. Unfortunately, there is no formal way to view the final version of the revised regulations until OMB makes a decision about these regulations or until OFCCP decides to release them to the public.
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