The agenda, minutes, and presentations from the Nov 21, 2019 meeting are now available on the password-protected Members-Only Resources page.
5/21/19 Philadelphia Liberty ILG Meeting – Disability Inclusion Day
The 2Q19 Philadelphia Liberty ILG Meeting – Disability Inclusion Day – was a huge success! We had a great turnout with over 50 attendees and representatives from OFCCP, ODEP, and EEOC present. Meeting materials and presentations from the event can be found on the Members-Only Resources page.
Ms. Michele Hodge, OFCCP Regional Director, Mid-Atlantic Region Mr. Andrew Ransome, Chair of the Philadelphia Liberty ILG Mr. Ed Rogers, OFCCP District Director, OFCCP Philadelphia District Office, Mid-Atlantic Region Ms. Mary Tiernan, EEOC Mr. Michael Murray, Director Employer Policy Team, ODEP
Philadelphia Inquirer Op-Ed regarding funding for PA DOL’s Office of Vocation Rehabilitation (PA OVR)
Op-Ed piece from 6/27/19 Philadelphia Inquirer – This piece advocates for the allocation of additional funding for the PA OVR which provides access to training and job placement to disabled Pennsylvanians. This is a timely piece given the topic of our last (and fabulous) 5/21/19 meeting. Several companies of Liberty ILG members have hired workers who have benefitted from training funded by PA OVR.
Liberty ILG member companies may want to send letters to the administration to express their support for additional funding for PA OVR.
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/disability-jobs-pennsylvania-program-20190627.html
Thanks to Liberty ILG Membership Committee member Samina Weil of Fisher Phillips for this summary!
Title IX and Compliance Investigator Opening at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Manager, HR Compliance opening at Marriott International in Bethesda, Maryland
OFCCP Warns Law Firms To ‘Get House In Order’ On Diversity
https://www.law360.com/articles/1148742/ofccp-warns-law-firms-to-get-house-in-order-on-diversity
By Vin Gurrieri
Law360, New York
(April 10, 2019, 9:43 PM EDT) — Law firms need to “get their house in order”
when it comes to their diversity and inclusion practices, the top official at
the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
told industry stakeholders Wednesday, both to serve as a model for other
businesses and to fulfill their responsibilities as federal contractors.
OFCCP Director Craig Leen’s comments came at a legal industry compliance event
the agency held in Manhattan. There, he cautioned that law may be among the
industry sectors that will soon face increased scrutiny by the agency of their
equal employment opportunity practices — particularly when it comes to
promotions — since women, minorities and disabled individuals are vastly
underrepresented in top-level equity partner positions.
“Law firms need to get their house in order,” Leen told industry stakeholders.
“You need to take a look at what’s happening because you are the example to the
world of compliance with law. … It’s important that you never be in a position
where it be viewed as you are being hypocritical or not following the legal
advice that you give to others.”
The OFCCP is a department within the U.S. Department of Labor that enforces
nondiscrimination and affirmative-action requirements for federal contractors
and subcontractors, which can include law firms that perform work for
government agencies.
During his remarks, Leen cited a recent study by the National Association for
Law Placement that said women and women of color are vastly underrepresented at
the equity partner level when compared with the percentage of women who
graduate law school and those that make up firms’ associate ranks. He also
cited a statistic that less than a half-percent of equity partners are
individuals with disabilities.
“These numbers are glaring, they are concerning, they are troubling, they are
problematic, and they are systemic,” Leen said. “They’re something that law
firms need to take a look at, and it’s something it’s going to be a focus of
OFCCP.”
While he mostly avoided discussing the root causes of firms’ long-standing
problems with diversity and inclusion in high-level positions or possible
solutions, Leen made a point to mention that inadequate policies regarding paid
leave for new parents can be an obstacle to diversity at the top or, if a good
policy is in place, a way to combat any lack of diversity that exists.
As best practices, Leen said that law firms could consider prorating billable
hour requirements for any parent that takes leave and making sure that they
aren’t penalized for taking leave. He also suggested that firms conduct
self-assessments every year at whether men are taking leave when they have
kids, figuring out ways to encourage them to do so and studying how both men
and women fare upon their return to work.
Moreover, the OFCCP’s top official said the agency plans to issue guidance
regarding how far the agency’s reach extends when it comes to policing
problematic practices involving lawyers who are equity partners, an issue that
Leen acknowledged has been up for debate. But the OFCCP director also said he
believes the agency can currently look at issues surrounding promotions to
equity partner positions.
“The promotion of associates or nonequity partners to partner is something I
think we would have jurisdiction over because we have jurisdiction over the
employees who are being promoted to partner or not promoted,” Leen said.
“Someone who’s not promoted to partner is still an employee. So, they’ve been
harmed would be the argument if they’ve been discriminated against,
particularly if that affects their compensation or their opportunities at the
firm.
“Generally, I do think we have a hook here, which is the promotion hook, and we
are going to be pursuing that when we look at firms,” Leen added.
While not many firms were scheduled for audits this year based on the “neutral
criteria” that the agency used to make its selections, Leen said the issue over
promotions will be a focus of the agency as soon as the next fiscal year for
for law firms and contractors in other sectors like finance and academia where
women and minorities are statistically underrepresented in top positions.
Wednesday’s event was the second held by the OFCCP in two days, coming on the
heels of an event Tuesday for financial industry
stakeholders. The events were held with the dual-pronged objective of informing
industry stakeholders about the agency’s initiatives and goals, but also to
obtain feedback about areas where the agency can improve.
On the former front, Leen on Wednesday laid out a general set of principles
that the agency will focus on under his watch: increasing transparency,
creating certainty, improving efficiency and publicly recognizing the best
performing contractors.
As to the first of those planks, Leen acknowledged that the agency “has been
known in the past to not be very transparent,” and said he wants contractors to
have a clear idea of both what it is doing and how it is doing it.
“Transparency is key to the success of this agency and making sure that it has
a bigger impact across the United States,” Leen said.
As to improving the efficiency of the matters it handles, Leen said that the
long periods of time that it takes to resolve some cases “is a huge threat and
problem for the agency” in part because many companies often won’t move to fix
a problematic compensation system until a case is resolved.
Leen noted that the agency has over 100 administrative matters pending that are
more than four years old, a number he said “makes no sense” and that isn’t
helpful for businesses, workers or the agency itself. The agency will be
increasing the number of random audits it conducts in the future but
streamlining them so they are completed far quicker and place a priority on
resolving the oldest cases currently in the system, he said.
“My general view of the contractors in this country is that the vast majority
of them don’t intend to discriminate,” Leen said, noting that bias is only
found in about 2% of the agency’s audits. “Nevertheless, a good company, when
we show them a disparity and there’s no explanation for that disparity, should
want to fix it and they should work with us to do so.”
–Editing by Aaron Pelc.
Director of Compliance and Conflict Resolution Job Posting at Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech has posted a job opening for Director of Compliance and Conflict Resolution. Read more at https://listings.jobs.vt.edu/postings/96229
OFCCP FY2019 CSAL List Released 3/25/19
OFCCP’s FY2019 CSAL list was released Monday, 3/25/19.
You can view the full list here: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/scheduling/index.html.
To view CSAL FAQs, click here: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/faqs/csalfaqs.htm.
Recent OFCCP and EEO-1 News, and Upcoming NILG Webinars
- EEO-1 Survey Opens March 18th: https://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/index.cfm
- NILG Webinar March 21st, 2:00-3:30 PM EST: From Concept to Action: Learn How OFCCP is Putting the New Directives into Practice Register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/448487891562969090
- NILG Webinar April 11th, 3:00-4:00 PM EST: OFCCP and ODEP: Agency Updates and Sec 503 Compliance & Focused Reviews Register here: REGISTRATION LINK
- OFCCP Announces NYC Town Hall Meetings April 9th and 10th for financial and legal industries Proskauer article Register here: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/townhalls/index.html
- OFCCP Section 503 Focused Reviews Website is Live: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/Section503-FocusedReviews/index.html
- Judge Lifts Stay on EEO-1 Pay Data Submission: Article
- OFCCP to Post CSAL List in March: OFCCP is on schedule to post its next Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) in OFCCP’s FOIA Library in mid-to-late March 2019.
OFCCP Announces Town Halls in NYC April 9th and 10th
OFCCP Wants to Help
Ensuring federal contractors have the free tools and resources needed to comply with their equal opportunity obligations is critically important. In order to continue to enhance the scope and quality of OFCCP’s compliance assistance materials we have been holding town hall events to enhance our understanding of what is important to our stakeholders.
Most recently we held two successful town halls for the tech industry and gained valuable feedback and ideas from the participants. OFCCP is looking to build on the success of the town halls that were primarily focused on the tech industry with two more town halls in New York. The first New York town hall will be focused on the financial industry and related fields and the second New York town hall will be focused on the legal industry and related fields.
The town halls will be held in New York, New York. The financial industry town hall will be held on April 9, 2019 and the legal industry town hall will be held on April 10, 2019.
You can attend a town hall by registering through OFCCP’s website.
The meetings are open to the public but will be of particular interest to human resource managers, equal employment opportunity specialists, chief compliance officers, and other personnel in the legal and financial industries who are directly involved with ensuring their company’s compliance with OFCCP’s requirements. Workers, jobseekers, community groups and anyone interested in OFCCP and our work are also encouraged to attend. Please note only two tickets are available per organization on a first come, first served basis.