Congressional Hearing Held on OFCCP Affirmative Action Rules

On Dec. 4, the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing on the new affirmative action regulations for veterans and individuals with disabilities.  The new regulations were recently promulgated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs (OFCCP). The hearing included testimony from OFCCP’s director, Pat Shiu, and directly focused on the new rules which go into effect on March 24, 2014. Although AGC supports OFCCP’s goals and objectives of ensuring equal employment opportunity, AGC is disappointed with the agency’s decision to finalize the two regulations, in large part due to the lack of need for the rules and the costs associated with implementing and complying with the new requirements.  However, after several meetings with government agencies, legislative efforts and press campaigns, AGC persuaded OFCCP to reduce the regulations, as proposed, by more than 50 percent.  While contractors will be required to do more than is currently required, the impact is minimal compared to what was suggested in the proposed rules. AGC provided material that was inserted into the congressional record for the hearing. A summary of the final rules can be found on the AGC website.  For a recording of AGC’s webinar highlighting key factors of each rule for construction contractors, visit the AGC bookstore. For more information, please contact Jim Young at (202) 547-0133 or youngj@agc.org.