Executive Order 12866 requires federal agencies to publish an agenda of regulations they plan to propose, promulgate, or review in the coming one-year period. The Department of Labor’s regulatory agenda showed ambitious goals for its agencies in 2022, as does President Biden’s Build Back Better Framework. Employers should brace themselves for increased enforcement activity from agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”), and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”).
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Christy E. Kiely
Biden Administration Updates Vaccination Guidance for Federal Contractors
Federal contractors can make their own determinations on vaccination exemptions and do not need to terminate employees who refuse vaccination, according to new guidance from the Biden Administration.
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New Guidance Requires Federal Contractors to Have Employees Vaccinated by December 8th
On September 24, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (“Task Force”) issued written Guidance to implement Executive Order 14042 (“Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors”), which was signed by President Biden on September 9, 2021. The Guidance is a key component of President Biden’s larger “Path Out of the Pandemic: COVID-19 Action Plan.”
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AAP Changes Ahead for Federal Contractors
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”), an agency within the Department of Labor, has recently announced two significant changes that will impact covered contractors and subcontractors in the coming months. …
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EEOC Issues LGBTQ+ Restroom Guidance On One-Year Anniversary of Bostock
Employers remember the seminal Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga., where the Court held that Title VII’s “because of sex” protections extend to sexual orientation and transgender status. Now, on the one-year anniversary of that influential case, the EEOC has issued guidance to clarify whether employers can segregate bathrooms by gender or sex. That question was conspicuously left unresolved in Bostock.
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Executive Orders Impact Federal Agencies and Government Contractors
Since taking office, President Biden has issued Executive Orders covering topics from climate change to mask mandates. Some of these new Executive Orders are aimed at eliminating discrimination and promoting equity at the federal level. These directives will likely result in new requirements for private sector companies that are government contractors or subcontractors, and could require them to revise practices and policies in order to keep, or procure new, government contracts.
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“EEOC Explore” Tool Launched to Provide Greater Transparency and Access to Diversity Data – Employers Beware Overreaching and Generalizations
Earlier this month, the EEOC launched EEOC Explore, “an interactive data query and mapping tool” that gives users access to aggregate data on more than 73,000 employers and 56 million employees across the United States. According to the agency, EEOC Explore “enables stakeholders to explore and compare data trends across a number of categories, including location, sex, race and ethnicity, and industry sector without the need for experience in computer programming or statistical analysis.”…
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DOL Updates Guidance on Coronavirus Paid Leave Law, Addresses Business Reopenings
The Department of Labor has released a new set of “Questions and Answers” for employers under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The guidance supplements the temporary rule issued by DOL in April; final regulations are still forthcoming.
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OFCCP Updates Disability Self-ID Form
Since 2014, OFCCP-covered employers have been required to invite job applicants, pre-offer, to disclose their disability status via a form prescribed by the OFCCP. The information thus obtained helps employers analyze (1) the efficacy of their diversity recruiting efforts and (2) hiring rates of persons with disabilities. This week, the Agency unveiled a modified format for that invitation. OFCCP hopes the revised form will increase the response rate for applicants and employees, who are often reluctant to disclose disabilities.
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EEOC Postpones EEO-1 Reports to 2021
Today the EEOC published a Notice in the Federal Register, announcing a delay in its collection of EEO-1 Component 1 data — until March of 2021 — due to the coronavirus pandemic. (FR Doc. 2020-09876). Component 1 data is what most employers associate with the EEO-1 Report: employment data summarized by job category, race/ethnicity, and gender. There will now be no EEO-1 Reports submitted in 2020. …
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