Guest Post by:
Susan Schoenfeld
Senior Legal Editor
Business & Legal Resources, Inc.
While recently adding new compliance requirement to BLR’s legal analyses for government contractors and affirmative action, I thought about just how many changes have been made to the rules governing affirmative action and requirements for federal government contractors.
To name a few (just in the last year):
- Contractors have new NLRA notice requirements
- Functional affirmative action plans (FAAPs) are no longer being accepted by OFCCP
- New executive compensation reporting requirements for contracts of $25,000 were added
- The I-9 inspection program for federal contractors was withdrawn
- Rules for self-evaluation of pay practices were rescinded
In addition, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the agency that enforces the rules and regulations for federal government contractors, received an unprecedented increase in funding to hire more inspectors and conduct more audits at contractors’ worksites.
The end result? More rules, more compliance requirements, more audits and potentially the discovery of more violations. Contractors that want the federal contracting dollars (and given the current state of the economy, who doesn’t?) need to buckle down. In order to keep their contracts, employers must keep track of the various changes to the rules and show OFCCP that they can and will stay in compliance.
To see a detailed analysis of the new rules for federal contractors mentioned above, as well as more information on affirmative action, go to the Government Contractors and Affirmative Action topic discussions on HR.BLR.com.