After a long lull, it appears that the regulatory agenda of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is back in full swing. According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the OFCCP recently submitted new affirmative action final rules for veterans and for persons with disabilities to OMB for approval and ultimate publication. The affirmative action rules for veterans were put out for notice and comment back in April 2011, and the rules for persons with disabilities were published for notice and comment in December 2011. It is possible that the new regulations could become effective by January 1, 2014, if not sooner.
OFCCP also indicated that it is preparing to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking involving sex discrimination guidelines as early as this month (notice available here) as well as proposed rules on construction contractor affirmative action requirements as early as October 2013 (notice available here).
Stay tuned. We’ll bring you the details just as soon as the final and/or proposed regulations are published.
Michael J. Schrier is the attorney responsible for the content of this article.