On Wednesday, the Tenth Circuit joined the First, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits (and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) in holding that transferring an employee for the purposes of medical treatment or therapy may be a reasonable accommodation under the Rehabilitation Act – even if an employee is able to perform essential functions of a job without such a transfer.
On August 21, 2012, the United States Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) issued a proposed rule to implement the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank”). The proposed rule requires the Treasury to confirm that its contractors undertake good faith efforts to include women and minorities in their workforce. Section 342 of Dodd-Frank established an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (“OMWI”) in various agencies, including the Treasury, and requires those agencies to ensure “fair inclusion of women and minorities in the [contractor’s] workforce.”
Filed under Discrimination, EEO, OFCCP
On May 8, 2012, the Administrative Review Board for the Department of Labor (“ARB”) reversed a very favorable ruling for contractors, holding that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) could request data from contractors during desk audits concerning hiring, terminations and promotions after the period covered by OFCCP’s initial Scheduling Letter.
On January 27, 2012, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) rejected requests from the contractor community to provide additional time for comments on its proposed regulations under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Rehabilitation Act”) that would impose fundamental changes in federal contractors’ obligations involving persons with disabilities. On December 9, 2011, the OFCCP issued a proposed rule that would amend the Rehabilitation Act. A summary of the proposed rule is provided below.
On November 7, 2011, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) entered a new Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) that allows for greater sharing of information between the agencies and collaboration on enforcement initiatives. The stated goal of the MOU is “to promote greater efficiency and coordination, and to eliminate conflict and duplication of effort” between the agencies. There has been a MOU between the two agencies since 1970. Although the MOU has been updated several times (e.g., 1974, 1981, and 1999), the agencies have rarely coordinated or collaborated on enforcement initiatives.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) recently announced that it entered a Conciliation Agreement with Amarillo-based Caviness Beef Packers, Ltd. (“Caviness”) after a compliance evaluation revealed hiring discrimination at two of its meat processing facilities.
OFCCP determined during a compliance review of Caviness that the contractor had statistically significant disparities in the hiring rates, favoring men over women and Hispanics over non-Hispanics. Caviness agreed to enter a Conciliation Agreement with OFCCP requiring it to pay $600,000 to 746 identified class members as back pay and interest. In addition, Caviness agreed to extend offers to 81 women and non-Hispanics as positions become available and to revise its selection procedures for production producers to avoid any future violations.
