DOL Discrimination Rule Could Drive Contractor Settlements

Andrew Turnbull spoke to Law360 about the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ (OFCCP) move to roll back 2020 changes to employment discrimination enforcement for federal contractors.

Contractors will now have 15 days to respond to notices of violation, down from 30 days in the 2020 rule, during which they may have to try to pinpoint the OFCCP’s concerns and address them without access to all the evidence mandated by the 2020 rule. According to Andrew, waivers for that deadline will be granted only in extraordinary circumstances, which means that contractors and their attorneys in many circumstances will find it difficult, if not impossible, to address the OFCCP’s concerns effectively.

“It puts us at a disadvantage, because we can’t really respond to that,” he said. “I think that’s the fear from a lot of contractors, that we’re going to be back to that [situation of], ‘We have no details; you’re asking us to settle a case where we don’t even know what you’re asking.’”

Read the full article.