For the past eight years, as President Obama was unable to push much of his legislative agenda through Congress, federal contractors have faced an onslaught of increasing regulatory burdens and an aggressive enforcement agency. Will the positions of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs soften under a Trump Administration? Here are my predictions.

Fair Pay & Safe ...

I am delighted to announce the launch of ConstangyTV's Close-Up on Workplace Law, a new video series on labor and employment law issues. We'll be offering these videos on a monthly basis, in addition to our newsletters and blog posts.

Our debut is about the evolving definition of sex discrimination under federal law. Host Leigh Tyson, a partner in our Atlanta Office, interviews Cara ...

How much can you do - and not do - about your employees' personal appearance and grooming? Take this quiz and find out! As usual, I'll have the answers at the end, so if you get one wrong, no one but you will know.

QUESTION 1: If I operate in a jurisdiction that doesn't have a law against appearance discrimination, I can make any rules about appearance and grooming that I want. 

TRUE

FALSE

QUESTION 2: My employees are required by OSHA to wear masks on the job. The masks are no good unless there is a proper seal around the employee's mouth and nose. Since facial hair prevents a good seal from forming, we have a no-beard policy. I have one employee who is Sikh and wears a beard for religious reasons. What should I do?

A. Let him keep his beard and pray that the mask will work without the proper seal.

B. Tell him he has to shave the beard off or lose his job.

C. Meet with him and explain that the mask is required by OSHA and the safety rationale for the rule. Talk with him about reasonable accommodations, which might include use of a different type of mask that works with a beard, or transfer to another position that doesn't require use of a mask. After you've talked and perhaps consulted with vendors or safety experts, make a determination of what to do that won't violate the law or endanger his safety while accommodating his beliefs as much as you can.

Our crack Workplace Safety team has a bulletin explaining the new guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on its "Reasonable Reporting Procedures" rule, less catchily known as §1904.35(b)(1)(iv). The good news is that OSHA's restrictions on post-incident drug testing are fairly mild. But there are many unanswered questions about how the rule will ...

The holiday season is almost upon us, and with it comes one of the largest “gifts” the U.S. Department of Labor has ever provided – the new Final Rule on overtime exemptions, which will, in all likelihood, take effect as scheduled on December 1. Unfortunately for employers, this gift is heavily weighted in favor of expanding overtime eligibility for employees, and it does so by ...

Federal contractors, will asking applicants to voluntarily self-identify by race -- a request that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs requires you to make -- be used against you in a hiring-discrimination lawsuit?

A recent decision from a federal court in New Jersey indicates that the answer is NO, as long as you handle the information correctly.

In Dougboh v. Cisco ...

There is great rejoicing among federal contractors since a federal judge in Texas has preliminarily blocked the "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces" rules from going into effect. Absent the court's action, the rules would have taken effect for the largest contractors this past Tuesday, and for some smaller ones in 2017. The case is far from over, but this is a major interim victory ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is only the latest in a string of federal agencies who've been sued recently in an effort to stop their regulations from taking effect.

We have the two lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Labor challenging the overtime rule that is scheduled to take effect on December 1 (argument in those cases will be heard November 16), the lawsuit that ...

Being part of the "in" crowd with the FBI apparently does not protect you from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

To the contrary: It was an FBI contract that subjected a California-based technology company to an OFCCP review that has resulted in an administrative complaint.

Palantir Technologies is a large government contractor with more than $340 ...

UPDATE (10/25/16): They did, they did! Judge Marcia Crone has issued a preliminary injunction against the Rule, which blocks it from going into effect. She agreed with the plaintiffs on just about every point (although she declined to block the paycheck transparency provisions). Here is a copy of the Order.

Many federal contractors are on the verge of having to ...