On July 29, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memorandum titled “Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination” (the “Memorandum”), responding to the federal government’s recent...more
Federal contractors and subcontractors meeting the VEVRAA eligibility threshold of having 50 or more employees and at least one federal contract totaling $150,000 or more (“Covered Contractors”) must annually file a VETS-4212...more
On July 30, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Department of Labor (“DOL”) must disclose federal contractor EEO-1 Reports requested by the Center for Investigative Reporting (“CIR”). The...more
8/5/2025
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EEO-1 ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Contractors ,
FOIA ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
OFCCP ,
Trade Secrets
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) has released its 2025 Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (“VEVRAA”) national benchmark. Effective July 30, 2025, the new benchmark is 5.1%, a slight...more
In this episode of The Proskauer Brief partner Guy Brenner, who leads Proskauer’s D.C. Labor & Employment practice and is head of the Government Contractor Compliance Group, and Jonathan Slowik, senior counsel, Labor &...more
7/31/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Automated Decision Systems (ADS) ,
Bias ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Federal Contractors ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Impact Assessments ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State Labor Laws
On June 11, 2025, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate issued a memorandum entitled Civil Division Enforcement Priorities (the “Memorandum”), outlining five areas of focus for Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Civil Division...more
If a recent survey is to be believed, managers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in making personnel decisions may be more extensive than their employers realize. A survey of 1,342 full-time manager-level employees...more
7/29/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Automated Decision Systems (ADS) ,
Compliance ,
Discrimination ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Risk Management
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law—a budget reconciliation bill enacting several signature policies of the President’s second-term agenda. Left on the cutting-room floor, however,...more
On July 1, 2025, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) released three notices of proposed rulemaking that, if adopted, will change federal contractors’ affirmative action obligations....more
On June 27, 2025, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) Director Catherine Eschbach issued a letter announcing that OFCCP is “providing all federal contractors withthe opportunity to volunteer informationin...more
7/7/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Compliance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
OFCCP ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Voluntary Disclosure
On July 7, 2025, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer issued Order 08-2025 (the “Order”) impacting OFCCP’s enforcement of Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (“Section 503”) and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment...more
Florida lawmakers recently passed the Florida Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act (the “Act”), which would create a presumption that covered non-compete and garden...more
The Trump Administration has announced plans to “eliminate” the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”), the agency currently responsible for enforcing affirmative action and...more
A closely watched class and collective action against the HR management services company Workday, Inc. reached a new milestone recently, when the Northern District of California conditionally certified Age Discrimination in...more
6/12/2025
/ ADEA ,
Age Discrimination ,
Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bias ,
California ,
Class Action ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Job Applicants ,
Machine Learning ,
Popular ,
Putative Class Actions
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has opened the 2024 EEO-1 data-collection cycle and set Tuesday, June 24, 2025, as the filing deadline for submissions. According to the EEOC, this year’s reporting window...more
5/21/2025
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Data Collection ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
EEO-1 ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Title VII
On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum (the “Memorandum”) establishing the Department of Justice’s “Civil Rights Fraud Initiative” (the “Initiative”). The program “will utilize the False...more
In the latest lawsuit of its kind, the American Civil Liberties Union recently filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) alleging an AI interviewing...more
4/30/2025
/ Algorithms ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Automated Decision Systems (ADS) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Popular ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Software
On April 15, 2025, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) submitted a “non-substantive” Information Collection Request (“ICR”) to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) for approval ahead of its 2024 data...more
4/28/2025
/ Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Gender Identity ,
OMB ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sex Discrimination
On April 14, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a preliminary injunction preventing the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) from enforcing a certification provision and termination clause...more
In the final installment of our AI at Work series, partner Guy Brenner and senior counsel Jonathan Slowik tackle a critical issue: mismatches between how artificial intelligence (or AI) tools are designed and how they are...more
On March 24, 2025, the Department of Labor announced the appointment of Catherine Eschbach as Director of OFCCP. Direct Eschbach joins the agency after serving as an appellate lawyer in private practice.
Director Eschbach...more
3/27/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
New Regulations ,
OFCCP ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Trump Administration ,
Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA)
As we previously reported, on March 3, 2025, the Maryland District Court denied Defendants’ motion to stay the preliminary injunction in National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education v. Trump, preventing the...more
In part three of our series on potential pitfalls in the use of artificial intelligence (or AI) when it comes to employment decisions, partner Guy Brenner and senior counsel Jonathan Slowik dive into the concept of “black...more
According to Washington Post and Bloomberg press reports, on February 25, 2025, OFCCP Acting Director Michael Schloss submitted a memorandum to Acting Secretary of Labor, Vincent Micone, outlining OFCCP’s plan to...more
On February 21, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction pausing enforcement of several provisions of President Trump’s DEI-related executive orders on Ending Radical and...more