Berkshire Associates’ 2010 Enforcement Agency Updates: Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Strengthen Section 503 Regulations

According to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the case management strategy of past administration resulted in a decrease in the number of reviews, and placed the priority for enforcement on Executive Order 11246. This resulted in a decline in the enforcement of other OFCCP laws and program areas including outreach and cases involving Veterans and individuals with disabilities.

To that end, in July 2010 the OFCCP issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking to strengthen section 503 regulations regarding equal employment opportunity for qualified individuals with disabilities. The agency asked government contractors to respond to a set of 18 questions by September 2010. Very broadly the areas the questions solicited answers to were:

Employment practices that have been effective in recruiting, hiring, advancing, and retaining qualified individuals with disabilities;
The availability of data that could be used to establish hiring goals and conduct utilization analyses of individuals with disabilities; and
How linkage agreements between federal contractors and organizations that focus on the employment of qualified individuals with disabilities can be strengthened to increase effectiveness.

For more information, please contact Berkshire Associates at 800.882.8904 or email bai@berkshireassociates.com.