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Is Veteran hiring a top priority for your company? If so, and you are in the Boston area, we encourage you to attend the ‘Employer Breakfast & Discussion Regarding Hiring Veterans’ hosted by the The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), The New England Center for Homeless Veterans, and America’s Job Exchange (AJE). The event will feature speakers from these organizations, including AJE President Rathin Sinha.

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Seating is limited, so please RSVP to Reginald Hunt at (617) 624-6780 or Hunt.reginald@dol.gov. We hope to see you there!

Date: Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Venue: Veterans Training School, New England Center for Homeless Veterans
17 Court Street Boston, MA 02108
Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Coukos was specifically addressing the OFCCP’s decision on February 28^th to rescind its 2006 compensation guidance and investigation protocols as it relates to contractor pay practices, which we addressed in an earlier blog outlining the OFCCP’s new policy, Directive 307. Visit here to read more.

During the webinar, Coukos outlined how the agency’s new directive will better position the agency in addressing pay practices found among federal contractors as well as align OFCCP enforcement with existing standards for pay discrimination as outlined in Executive Order 11246, which prohibits contractors from discriminating in rates of pay or other forms of compensation.

In all, Coukos outlined how the new measures will further help improve and expand compensation investigation procedures and protocols by the OFCCP, allowing the agency to follow the same standards as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and other federal agencies when it comes to assessing pay discrimination.

The webinar addressed what is required of federal contractors as it relates to employing fair pay practices, and the steps they need to take if they receive a scheduling letter from the OFCCP, including the new compensation audit procedures the OFCCP will follow. For more information on the OFCCP audit, including responding to a scheduling letter – the first step to the audit process, visit our OFCCP article archive here.

For a complete listing of upcoming OFCCP sponsored webinars and events, visit the Department of Labor here.

While the unemployment rate has continued to fall consistently over the course of the past year (was 8.4 percent a year ago), much of the progress is due more and more to workers dropping out of the labor force. In fact, according to the Labor Department 496,000 workers stopped looking for employment in March, bringing the labor participation rate down by 0.2 percent to its current rate of 63.3 percent.

Conversely, several sectors continued to see the addition of jobs, including professional and business services, which added 51,000 jobs in March. The economy also saw job growth in health care with 23,000 jobs gained. Construction employment also edged up by 18,000 jobs. Leisure and hospitality employment saw the addition of jobs with 13,000 added, specifically in food services and drinking establishments.  Retail trade employment saw a decline of 24,000 jobs, as did government, which saw U.S. Postal Service employment fall by 12,000 jobs in March.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates remains unchanged month to month for adult men (6.9 percent), women (7.0 percent), teenagers (24.2 percent), whites (6.7 percent), African Americans (13.3 percent), and Hispanics (9.2 percent).

As we noted in our earlier blog, the new guidance behind Directive 307 will provide the OFCCP with more leeway to investigate government contractor pay discrimination; all of which will further its ability to enforce employer pay practices which protect workers from federal laws against illegal employment discrimination. The new guidance will accomplish the following:

• Rescind two enforcement guidance documents on pay discrimination from 2006 known as the “Compensation Standards” and “Voluntary Guidelines” because they limited OFCCP’s ability to conduct full investigations and use every enforcement tool at its disposal to combat pay discrimination.[ii]
• Align OFCCP’s analysis of pay discrimination with the principles used to enforce the main federal law against employment discrimination — Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – just like in all other areas where OFCCP reviews contractor compliance under Executive Order 11246 (such as hiring, promotion or termination), and just as other federal agencies do. [ii]
• Improve and clarify OFCCP’s compensation investigation program, by providing the procedures, analysis, and protocols OFCCP will utilize when conducting compensation discrimination investigations going forward. [ii]

For those looking for additional information on Directive 307, you can visit the OFCCP here www.dol.gov/ofccp/CompGuidance/.

For assistance with OFCCP compliance issues, be sure to visit America’s Job Exchange here. As a leader in diversity recruiting and OFCCP job distribution services, we have valuable resources available to government contract employers.

[i] Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs, More Effective and Transparent Procedures for Investigating Pay Discrimination

The opening session confirmed that attendance at ILG regional events are nothing if not informative. Speaker Valerie Hoffman, of Seyfarth Shaw, LLP, a law firm with nationwide experience with compliance reviews, outlined new regulations the OFCCP will be issuing pertaining to veterans and individuals with disabilities. These regulations are just some of the initiatives top-of-mind with those involved with compliance as the second term of the Obama administration works to move forward its regulatory agenda, including new strategic initiatives focusing on compensation and other Affirmative Action regulations.

Following sessions focused on other regulations impacting shifts in OFCCP compliance, including implications of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s enforcement agenda for the coming years, one focus of which includes new guidance on the use of criminal background checks and its impact on discrimination in recruiting and hiring. We recently discussed Directive 306 on our blog, which outlines the guidance the OFCCP and EEOC stipulates Federal contractors need to be mindful of when making employment decisions based on criminal history records of job applicants. Visit here to read more.

After a short break, we began to discuss other compelling topics such as a review of other significant developments in the OFCCP agenda, including pay discrimination, which the OFCCP recently addressed in a new directive issued in February called Directive 307; a measure to improve the OFCCP’s ability to conduct full investigations into, and remedy, different forms of pay discrimination. Again, another topic we recently addressed on our blog. Visit here to learn more.

As the sessions began to wind down, we began to review some additional impactful compliance issues, including a presentation from speaker Ellen Shong Berman, of Ellen Shong & Associates, LLC, who provided her view on recordkeeping regulations and critical analytical issues to better manage what is high risk area of compliance for many.

The final sessions of the day included a presentation on how to balance affirmative action requirements with creating a diverse workforce (an absolute must today), and a topic that is high on contractor’s priority list, the OFCCP compensation audit, with a look at Equal Pay Act and other new legislation, such as the Lilly Ledbetter act.

Overall, we’re pleased to say that this year’s summit was a complete success. And we’re looking forward to supporting other ILG events; we hope to see you at one in your area soon.

The majority of job gains were made in professional and business services (adding 77,000 jobs), construction (adding 44,000 jobs), and health care, which added 32,000 jobs in February. Other growth sectors showing gains included retail trade which +23,000 jobs, and leisure and hospitality, adding 24,000 new jobs in February. Gains were also made in accounting and bookkeeping, information systems and technical consulting. [ii]

As we’ve been reporting in our Unemployment Blog Series, there remains a disparity in unemployment among work groups. While white workers saw their unemployment rate dip slightly to 6.8 percent in February (from 7 percent in January, and down from 7.9 percent a year ago), African Americans saw no improvement in unemployment, holding steady at 13.8 percent. This is a slight improvement year-over-year when unemployment was at 14.1 percent for this sector of the labor force. [iii].

Hispanics also saw a higher rate of unemployment than white workers (at 9.6 percent); however, have shown a marked improvement to unemployment year-over year; unemployment was 11.4 percent in February 2012). [iiii]

And the unemployment rate for Veterans, specifically Gulf-war Era II spiked to 11.6 in February, from 7.4 percent in January. Veterans ending their deployment could impact this spike. [iv]. This month we’ll explore the impact of unemployment on Veterans in more detail. Stay tuned.

According to IAEWS, a Super Member Site is one of the sites committed to providing the best resources as it relates to providing job seekers access to employment opportunities, information, and career resources and information. A “super site” also provides employers with a comprehensive platform to promote employment opportunities, access to a vast resume pool, and automated systems to recruit qualified candidates, and more.

For more information on the IAEWS and its Members, click here.

The unemployment situation for older workers is somewhat disparate. As the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its most recent Jobs Report, the national unemployment rate held at 7.9 percent in January, and the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was about 4.7 million and accounted for 38.1 percent of the unemployed. [ii] Of these workers, older workers fair much better in terms of unemployment rates when compared to younger work groups, such as those 25 to 54. For instance, men aged 55 and over held an unemployment rate of 6.2 percent in January 2013; this compares to 6.6 percent of men aged 25 to 54. [iii] Women show an even better rate, at 5.9 percent, compared to 6.8 percent for those in the younger age bracket of 25 to 54. [iii]

But on the adverse side, older workers aged 55 and older who do become unemployed have faced the longest-terms of unemployment, which was further established in a report on unemployed older workers by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released in 2012. [i]

While the report stipulates that older workers experience lower unemployment rates, a fact confirmed by the BLS unemployment numbers each month, it also states that the duration of unemployment for older workers has also increased since the downturn in the jobs market. [i] (The GAO attributes lower unemployment with older workers having longer job tenure, and consequently are less likely to be laid off than younger workers.)

“Prior to the recession, the median duration of unemployment for job seekers age 55 and over was 10 weeks compared with 9 weeks for job seekers aged 25-54. By 2011, the median duration of unemployment for older job seekers had increased to 35 weeks compared with 26 weeks for younger job seekers. In 2007, less than a quarter of unemployed older workers were unemployed for longer than 27 weeks. By 2011, this number had increased to 55 percent. Moreover, by 2011 over one-third of all unemployed older workers had been unemployed for over a year.” [iii]

As with many diversity work groups, each have their own unique challenges when it comes to employment. And for older workers, one may be how to combat finding work if unemployed.

The TILG summit will provide a forum to address a vast array of topics relevant to OFCCP compliance. And with the start of the new Obama administration, updated regulations to OFCCP’s Unified Agenda, and continuing modifications to compliance guidelines, such as Directive 307 which impacts contractor pay practices, attending ILG events are informative.

For those in the Chapel Hill area, the TILG 2013 NC/SC ILG Regional Summit will provide the opportunity to hear from speakers on key compliance issues, discuss and review “best practices,” and review trends that will help manage your 2013 AA / EEO compliance efforts.

If you are interested in attending, visit here for more information and to register for the event.

About TILG

The Triangle Industry Liaison Group (TILG) is a partnership between business and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and the Department of Labor (DOL). The mutual goal of this partnership is Affirmative Action and EEO compliance. TILG provides a forum to discuss and exchange information regarding compliance obligations related to various federal statutes and regulations.

As highlighted in Directive 306, federal contractors need to be mindful of hiring policies that “exclude people from employment based on the mere existence of a criminal history record and that do not take into account the age and nature of an offense.”

OFCCP Directive 306 draws attention to Pew Center data which highlights the racial and ethnic disparities reflected in American arrest and incarceration rates, which skew more towards African Americans and Hispanics [i].

• One in 106 white men, one in 36 Hispanic men, and one in 15 African American men are incarcerated. [i]
• One in 31 adults is under correctional control (i.e., probation, parole, or incarceration), including one in 45 white adults, one in 27 Hispanic adults and one in 11 African American adults. [i]
• Racial and ethnic disparities may also be reflected in other criminal history records. For example, although African Americans constitute approximately 13 percent of the overall population, they account for 28 percent of those arrested and almost 40 percent of the incarcerated population. [i]

The Directive stipulates that contractors should carefully consider their legal obligations before adopting hiring policies that reject candidates based on their criminal histories. The OFCCP recommends the following best practices:

• The contractors should ensure that hiring and screening policies are effective in linking job requirements to the specific offenses that may demonstrate unfitness for performing such jobs. It’s recommended that employers factor in the nature and gravity of the offense, time passed since the offense, and the nature of the job held or sought. [i]
• Refrain from inquiring about convictions on job applications altogether. [i]
• Limit inquiries to convictions for which exclusion would be job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity.
• Ensure that individuals’ criminal records are kept confidential and used only for their intended purpose.

For more information on Directive 306, visit here.

[i] Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Directive 306 (OFCCP)