The Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has published proposed changes to regulations under the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) and Section 503 of the...more
On June 2, 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) launched its Opinion Letter program. Opinion Letters are official written responses from the DOL that explain how it would apply statutes and regulations under particular facts...more
On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) titled Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy, which follows a string of prior EOs aimed at removing DEI programs, which we covered here and here....more
4/25/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Disparate Impact ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Review ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
On March 17, 2025, in an unprecedented action, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), under the direction of Acting Chair Andrea R. Lucas, issued 20 extensive letters to large, prominent law firms containing...more
3/20/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Compliance ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Law Practice Management ,
Title VII
Real World Impact: On January 21, 2025, on his second day in office, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Executive Order”). The...more
Within days of his second inauguration, President Trump issued a number of Executive Orders. While the impact of his Executive Orders will be seen with time, many employers may be left wondering how the Executive Orders...more
Yesterday (March 25, 2024), the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) will begin accepting online submissions on April 1 from covered contractors to certify they...more
Executive Summary: Following the Supreme Court’s decision in SFFA v. Harvard/UNC, Attorneys General from 13 states and United States Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas sent letters to business leaders, warning of potential legal...more
11/6/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
College Admissions ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Race Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina
Executive Summary: On August 4, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published a final rule amending the 2020 pre-enforcement regulations colloquially referred to as the...more
Executive Summary: On June 23, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 20-year precedent in two lawsuits: Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v....more
7/25/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
College Admissions ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Protection ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Race Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Title VII
On April 18, 2023, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued an updated scheduling letter. OFCCP rejected the vast majority of the comments submitted by the contractor community in response to the...more
OFCCP announced yesterday, March 20, 2023, that the Contractor Certification Portal will open in ten days. Contractors have until June 29, 2023 to certify that they are in compliance with OFCCP’s affirmative action and...more
Executive Summary: Just two days before the Thanksgiving holiday, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued a proposed scheduling letter and itemized listing seeking a number of additional documents...more
March 30, 2022 is the deadline for federal contractors, including subcontractors, to register in OFCCP’s recently launched Contractor Portal. Beginning March 31, contractors will have until June 30 to verify compliance with...more
2/21/2022
/ Affirmative Action ,
Data Collection ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Federal Contractors ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
OFCCP ,
Portal
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the OFCCP’s Affirmative Action Program Verification Interface (AAP-VI). Although the AAP-VI portal on the OFCCP’s website is not currently live, there is a placeholder...more
Executive Summary: On July 2, 2020, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published a Federal Register Notice of Final Rule amending its regulations under 41 CFR 60 regarding OFCCP jurisdiction over...more
Over the last two months, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract and Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued seven new directives under the OFCCP’s Acting Director and Deputy Director, Craig Leen....more
10/15/2018
/ Administrative Review ,
Affirmative Action ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd v Colorado Civil Rights Commission ,
OFCCP ,
Ombudsman ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Trump Administration ,
Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA)
On August 3, 2018, the head of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) contractor enforcement office announced that the DOL intends to identify and audit contractors who fail to certify their affirmative action compliance to the...more
8/24/2018
/ Affirmative Action ,
Audits ,
Certification Requirements ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Contractors ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
OFCCP ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements
On May 18, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a press release announcing an Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Directive that extends by two years the enforcement moratorium pertaining to the...more
On June 23, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court held for the second time that race may be taken into account when public universities and colleges admit students. In a 4-3 decision (Justice Kagan recused herself based on her prior...more
7/6/2016
/ Affirmative Action ,
College Admissions ,
Diversity ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Protection ,
Fisher v University of Texas ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Race Discrimination ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Strict Scrutiny Standard ,
Universities ,
University of Texas