OFCCP Makes Scheduling Announcement List Available and Then Withdraws List

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.

From the NILG Conference: The Best Presentation of All

On Thursday, August 30, John Fox of Fox, Wang & Morgan gave a presentation to the National Industry Liaison Group conference that proved to be the one of the highlights of the conference.  While we'll cover Mr. Fox's remarks more fully in a later post, Mr. Fox (a widely recognized expert on OFCCP matters and a fellow contributor to the LocalJobNetwork OFCCP Digest) said that "OFCCP is broken" and advocated for the contractor community to help fix the agency.  Mr. Fox said that federal contractors should take an active role in helping OFCCP develop regulations, policies, and practices that will effectuate the agency's mission of providing affirmative action and equal opportunity.

The first part of Mr. Fox's presentation focused on the issues facing both OFCCP and the contractor community.  However, Mr. Fox's concluding remarks provided a unique and refreshing approach to the seemingly intractable problem of creating an environment where OFCCP and federal contractors can work together towards common cause.

It's difficult to know whether John's plan is even remotely viable.  In some ways, it doesn't matter.  Mr. Fox provided an unexpected solution to a fundamental problem that has troubled both attendees at this conference and individuals who are involved with OFCCP and its affirmative action regulations.  In my opinion, this was by far the best presentation I've seen at this conference.

From the NILG Conference: DOL Pay Discrimination Enforcement Update

On Wednesday, August 28, a number of members of the Department of Labor gave a presentation regarding OFCCP's current posture regarding pay discrimination.  The panelists were OFCCP Senior Program Advisor Pamela Coukos, OFCCP SWARM Regional Director Melissa Speer, OFCCP Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Michele Hodge, and Consuela Pinto from the Solicitor's Office in the DoL.

Ms. Coukos, who is intensively involved in pay equity issues on behalf of OFCCP, opened the presentation by talking about the legal requirements regarding pay found in OFCCP's regulations.  She indicated that employers are required to conduct a self-audit of pay practices on a regular basis, checking for race and gender disparities.  While no specific methodology is required by the federal affirmative action regulations, federal contractors must take action when adverse results are found.

From the NILG Conference: Debra Carr of OFCCP's Division of Policy, Planning and Program Development

On Wednesday, August 28, Debra Carr of OFCCP's Division of Policy, Planning and Program Development gave a presentation on activities within her division.  She started by indicating the revisions to the Federal Contractor Compliance Manual (FCCM) were basically complete and that OFCCP expects to release the revised FCCM by the end of this year.  The revised FCCM will be easily navigatable, and provide effective guidance to both OFCCP compliance officers and federal contractors.

Ms. Carr then talked about several other initiatives through her division.  The division is providing additional language support and assistance for persons with limited English proficience as OFCCP attempts to make information more widely available to workers and the general public.  For example, the agency is attempting to make interpreters and translators more widely available.  OFCCP is also creating new fact sheets and attempting to educate the public about the agency's mission and the obligations of federal contractors.