We get Contracting: Episode 4 — Despite Dramatic Changes, Affirmative Action Obligations Still Exist

And so Laura and I for many years have been assisting employers with their affirmative action obligations.

And today we're going to talk about some changes and really what's left in the affirmative action world, what requirements are still in place for government contractors and subcontractors.

And of course, this is all following the big news recently that OFCCP is ending the requirement for contractors to to collect disability status information from applicants and employees.

So, Laura, why don't we start there? What happened? What is this change?

Yep.

Well, this certainly is a timely topic because things have changed, as we will discuss.

But what I think if there's one thing that I want everyone to walk away from our discussion today is the reminder that federal contractor affirmative action action obligations have not disappeared.

While they have changed dramatically, there are still actions in place and requirements that contractors need to be aware of.

So what has just happened is back on August 21st, OFCCP published a final rule making changes to the regulations that were implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

And these were proposed changes that we've been waiting for months, months for OFCCB to take action on.

And we kind of anticipated that there were going to be some changes.

We just didn't know when and to what extent.

But what has happened is these changes will take effect on September 21st, most of these changes.

And the biggest ones, as you alluded to, was that contractors are no longer required to ask applicants or employees to voluntarily identify their disability status.

If you remember back in 2013, this was kind of the biggest change in the regulations and the affirmative action regulations that contractors had seen for quite some time when we saw revisions to the veterans and disability regulations.

to implement these obligations to start soliciting this information.

Now OFCCP has again revised the regulations to remove these obligations.

And so Laura and I for many years have been assisting employers with their affirmative action obligations.

And today we're going to talk about some changes and really what's left in the affirmative action world, what requirements are still in place for government contractors and subcontractors.

And of course, this is all following the big news recently that OFCCP is ending the requirement for contractors to to collect disability status information from applicants and employees.

So, Laura, why don't we start there? What happened? What is this change?

Yep.

Well, this certainly is a timely topic because things have changed, as we will discuss.

But what I think if there's one thing that I want everyone to walk away from our discussion today is the reminder that federal contractor affirmative action action obligations have not disappeared.

While they have changed dramatically, there are still actions in place and requirements that contractors need to be aware of.

So what has just happened is back on August 21st, OFCCP published a final rule making changes to the regulations that were implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

And these were proposed changes that we've been waiting for months, months for OFCCB to take action on.

And we kind of anticipated that there were going to be some changes.

We just didn't know when and to what extent.

But what has happened is these changes will take effect on September 21st, most of these changes.

And the biggest ones, as you alluded to, was that contractors are no longer required to ask applicants or employees to voluntarily identify their disability status.

If you remember back in 2013, this was kind of the biggest change in the regulations and the affirmative action regulations that contractors had seen for quite some time when we saw revisions to the veterans and disability regulations.

to implement these obligations to start soliciting this information.

Now OFCCP has again revised the regulations to remove these obligations.