LEGAL
Attention Federal Contractors
(and Subcontractors)
There are new requirements that you need to be aware of
By Leonard Feigel, Foley & Lardner LLP
It is no secret that businesses that are
federal contractors (like many in the
heavy construction industry) must comply
with additional (and, some would argue,
onerous) requirements that other businesses
do not. For instance, federal contractors
must implement written Affirmative
Action Plans (which analyze pay and hiring
data and set out minority hiring strategies,
among many other items), track and
maintain detailed information regarding
employment applicants’ race, gender, veteran
status and disability information and
voluntarily submit to audits by the Office
of Federal Contracts Compliance Program
(OFCCP), among other requirements. Consistent
with its recent focus on employment
issues, such as its push for paid sick leave and
an increased minimum wage for all employees,
the current White House Administration
has instituted several changes to
the requirements that federal contractors
and subcontractors must follow. This article
briefly summarizes these recent changes and
expected upcoming changes.
Are you a federal contractor or
subcontractor?
Before getting into the details of the new
requirements, a good starting point is summarizing
how a federal contractor or subcontractor
relationship can arise. There are
several different ways. A company will be
covered if it has a contract to supply goods
or services directly to an agency of the federal
government. A company may also be
covered if it has a subcontract to supply
goods or services necessary to fulfill another
company’s federal contract or subcontract.
Generally, the company must also have 50
or more employees and the value of the federal
contract must be worth at least $50,000
annually.
Why do these changes only
apply to federal contractors
and subcontractors, and not all
employers?
The short answer is that the President,
in this case President Obama, has substantially
more flexibility to institute changes to
This is the first
time discrimination
based on conduct
has been prohibited,
as compared to
discrimination based
on a protected group
or characteristic.
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