A newly introduced bill would require the U.S. Department of Labor to follow a rule it wants to impose on federal contractors.
DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is in the final stages of a rulemaking that would require federal contractors to aim to have workers with disabilities make up 7 percent of their workforces. The also would need to have individuals with specific “targeted” disabilities make up 2 percent of their workforces.
But if DOL wants to enforce a hiring goal, it should have to play by the same rules, said Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who introduced the Equal Standards in Hiring Americans Act (H.R. 759). If enacted, the law would keep DOL from enforcing the hiring goal unless it can first show that it has met the goal in its own workforce.
Congress has expressed concern with the goal from the beginning. When it was first proposed, lawmakers said they were worried that the goal would amount to a quota. Furthermore, “[w]e question the legal authority under Section 503 permitting OFCCP to establish a numerical hiring standard,” members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce wrote in a letter to then-Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis. See Congress, Stakeholders Challenge OFCCP’s Proposed EEO Quota.
“This proposed rule has created a wave of anxiety among those in the federal contracting community, many of whom are facing severe budget cuts and are struggling to retain current employees on their payrolls,” Alexander said in a press release. “Remarkably, it does not appear that DOL is in compliance with the regulations it is attempting to impose on federal contractors.
According to a U.S. Office of Personnel Management report, however, individuals with disabilities made up more than 7 percent of DOL’s workforce in fiscal year 2011. It did not achieve the proposed goal for targeted disabilities though, having individuals with those specific disabilities accounting for only 1.18 percent.
Alexander said that while he appreciates DOL’s desire to ensure that workers with disabilities are sufficiently represented in the workplace, the federal government should “set the standard — not lead from behind.”
“We should not be asking others to meet goals we ourselves our unwilling or unable to achieve,” he added .
The bill was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
OFCCP’s final regulations are expected in April.
See New Disability Regulations for Contractors Expected in April for details.