What are you grateful for this year? Here is my list.

On the heels of the exemption for Hurricane Harvey contractors, and given the additional widespread destruction caused by Hurricane Irma, the federal government has extended a deadline affecting federal contractors and subcontractors.

VETS-4212

The VETS-4212 report, which contractors must file annually between August 1 and September 30, has been extended this year for all contractors, regardless of location.  The Veterans’ Employment and Training Service posted on its website that contractors and subcontractors who file their VETS-4212 reports by November 15 will be considered timely.  This one-time, 45-day extension is due to the needs of those affected by the recent hurricanes.

HURRICANE IRMA NATIONAL INTEREST EXEMPTION FOR NEW CONTRACTS

As it did for Hurricane Harvey contractors previously, on September 7, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs issued a another National Interest Exemption Memorandum providing a three-month exemption on preparing written affirmative action plans for a very specific group of contractors and subcontractors.

According to the FAQs, the exemption applies only to contractors who have signed or will sign a new supply and service or construction contract between September 1 and December 1, 2017, solely for the “specific purpose of providing Hurricane Irma relief” and who do not otherwise have to comply with the regulations.

Does this apply to everyone who has a contract to provide hurricane relief? 

No. The exemption applies only to those companies that become covered contractors by virtue of a new contract aimed solely at providing Irma relief.

Who is not covered?

Any contractor that is required to comply with the regulations based on a non-Irma relief contract (whether that contract be old or new).

Based on a recent Senate appropriations bill, it appears that the Trump Administration’s plan to merge the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has stalled. The

 Senate bill would fund the OFCCP for Fiscal Year 2018 at approximately $103.5 million, which is more than the House’s proposed funding of $94.5 million. Congress would not be proposing funds for the agency if it planned to eliminate it.

This legislative action follows a letter from Acting OFCCP Director Thomas Dowd to the Institute for Workplace Equality on August 24, “acknowledg[ing] that the consolidation proposal includes several challenging transition issues.” Although Mr. Dowd did not expressly state that merger plans were on ice, he noted that any consolidation was unlikely to occur until Fiscal Year 2019 and that the agency would focus on “contemporaneous opportunities to improve effectiveness and efficiency.”

Perhaps Congress is listening to its constituents. The proposed merger was opposed by both civil rights advocacy groups and employer organizations, and my colleague Angelique Lyons cogently summarized the pros and cons here.

We will continue to monitor this issue for further developments.

Image Credit: From flickr, Creative Commons license, by frankie leon.

As we have reported previously, the EEO-1 filing process is changing. The EEO-1 reports that would have been required by September 30, 2017, now do not have to be filed until March 31, 2018. The “catch” is that the new EEO-1 reports will require compensation data from a workforce “snapshot” taken between October 1 and December 31, 2017.

(The compensation data reporting ...

Reason No. 4: We have an all-star team of co-bloggers.

To wit (in alphabetical order): Ken Carlson, Cara Crotty, Louise Davies, Tommy Eden, LaLonnie Gray, Billy Hammel, Ellen Kearns, Damon Kitchen, Angelique Lyons, Bob Ortbals, Alyssa Peters, Kristine Sims, Sandra Sok, Jill Stricklin, Spring Taylor, Stephanie Underwood, Heidi Wilbur, and Jon Yarbrough. (Thanks, you guys!)

You ...

President Donald Trump has proposed to merge two of the primary government agencies focused on equal employment in the workplace – the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.  Robin has discussed this proposed merger here, here, and here.

She's asked for input from the Affirmative Action team, so here it is.

The ...

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and Palantir Technologies, a California-based technology company, have agreed to settle a pending lawsuit for about $1.7 million.

We first reported on this case in October 2016. In its complaint, the OFCCP alleged that the Company used a discriminatory hiring process that resulted in a low selection rate for Asians, who ...

As we have previously reported, the new EEO-1 Form is set to be used as of March 31, 2018, for the October-December "snapshot" period in 2017. The new form will require federal contractors and employers with 100 or more employees to provide summary compensation data to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in each EEO-1 category, divided into 12 "pay bands," and classified by ...

Thank you all very much for helping elect us to the American Bar Association Blawg 100 for 2016. We were one of only five employment law blogs to make the list, out of approximately 4,000 blogs in all legal categories. Your support and your readership are greatly appreciated!

We had a lot of guest bloggers this year, and they also deserve credit for our success. So thank you very much (in ...

This has been a weird year for me. (And, no, I'm not even thinking about the election!) But I have much to be thankful for, and I hope you do, too.

BREAKING THING TO BE THANKFUL FOR: Yesterday evening, the U.S. Department of Labor's new rule governing white-collar exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act was struck down by a federal judge in Texas. I'll have more on the decision ...