Associated Builders and Contractors has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Labor alleging that its new hiring regulations for federal contractors exceeds the department’s statutory authority.
The regulations, which implement Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, require federal contractors and subcontractors to aim to have individuals with disabilities make up 7 percent of their workforces. It also creates new recordkeeping requirements. The rule is slated to take effect March 24.
ABC asked a federal court for an injunction that would prevent the rules from taking effect. The new regulation imposes burdensome data collection requirements on construction contractors, without statutory authority and in an arbitrary and capricious manner, the Nov. 19 complaint says. “Nowhere in this or any other provision of the Rehabilitation Act did Congress authorize [DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs] to require government contractors covered by the Act to engage in any data collection or utilization analysis with regard to the hiring and/or employment of disabled workers. Nor does the Act anywhere authorize the OFCCP to set numerical goals for the employment of disabled workers by government contractors,” the compliant says.
The recordkeeping requirements are especially burdensome for construction contractors, because such paperwork provisions are completely new to the construction industry, according to ABC. Moreover, the industry is largely comprised of small businesses and has a workforce that OFCCP itself has referred to as “fluid and temporary,” compared to non-construction contractors, ABC said. “Because of this unique nature, the construction industry historically has warranted a unique approach, a fact which OFCCP completely ignored when it imposed these new requirements,” ABC Vice President of Federal Affairs Geoff Burr said in a press release.
These new requirements “mean many construction contractors are likely to stop pursuing government construction projects — particularly small businesses,” Burr said. Read the full story at HRComplianceExpert.com. For more information on disability laws specific to the federal government, see Section 113 of the ADA Compliance Guide.
The lawsuit, Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. v. Shiu (No. 1:13-cv-01806), was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.