Yesterday, President Obama signed an executive order and issued a presidential memorandum pressing his equal pay agenda.  The executive order establishes that workers cannot be prevented from discussing their pay with other employees or applicants.  Its declared target is to support efforts to eradicate gender-based pay disparities.  Its aim though is probably more akin to using a hand-held mirror to shoot over your shoulder at the target.

The EEOC recently announced that it will double its fine for employers who violate the notice posting requirements of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, from $100 per violation to $210.   The new rule will go into effect on April 18, 2014.

Have you (or others at your company) considered using mandatory arbitration agreements with your employees?  The idea is to require an employee who ends up in an employment dispute to handle that dispute before an arbitrator, rather than by filing a lawsuit.  But are these agreements valid and enforceable?  A recent decision by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (which handles cases from all federal courts in Georgia, Alabama and Florida) has a lot to say about the overall effectiveness and enforceability of mandatory arbitration agreements.

Today is the deadline for compliance with the first two steps of the new OFCCP regulations – which we discussed in our Steps One and Two blog post here.  We hope you are ready!  (You might want to call us if you are not.)

Assuming you are now in compliance with the first two steps, it is time to continue with Step Five.  This step must be implemented by the next time you develop an affirmative action plan after today.  However, we recommend implementing this step now, as explained below.

President Obama instructed the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) yesterday to change regulations to expand the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime provisions, in an effort to provide time-and-a-half wages to more employees.  The President signed a memorandum instructing his Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez to “update” the DOL’s regulations regarding which employees are exempt from the FLSA’s coverage, and which employees are non-exempt, and thus must be paid time-and-a-half their regular wage rate for all hours worked beyond 40 hours in a week.  The White House also issued a “fact-sheet” on the issue.

While it is not clear exactly what the DOL may do in response to the President’s direction, many feel that one likely step will be an attempt by the DOL to amend the FLSA’s regulations to raise the salary requirement employees must meet to qualify as an exempt executive, administrative or professional employee.  The current salary requirement is at least $455 per week, an amount established with the last set of DOL changes to the FLSA’s regulations back in 2004.  (Prior to 2004, the salary amount was $250, a number which had stayed constant since 1975.)

The Department of Labor says that contractors must follow the new OFCCP regulations for any affirmative action plans that are developed after March 24, 2014.  Will you be ready to assess your company’s compliance with the new requirement of seven percent (7%) disabled employees in each job group?  Will you be able to track your hiring of veterans against the new hiring benchmark?  Have you thought about the new narrative language that will be needed?

We continue now with step three of seven to getting into compliance with the new OFCCP regulations. As we said in our prior post covering steps one and two, on March 24, 2014 major revisions to regulations on the laws requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in affirmative action for disabled individuals and veterans go into effect. While steps one and two need to be in place on or soon after March 24, the remaining steps are only required to be in place as of the date of the first affirmative action plan developed after March 24…but they will take some significant time and effort to implement.

On March 24, 2014, major changes to regulations on the laws requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in affirmative action for disabled individuals and veterans will go into effect. Is your company ready?

Now is the time to begin taking concrete steps to comply with the new regulations because some of the new required elements of your affirmative action program must be operational on March 24, 2014. Other requirements must be in place as of the date of your first affirmative action plan after March 24, but they make take some time to implement.

Join Troutman Sanders’ Labor & Employment Partner, Evan Pontz, and co-presenter, Rebecca Shanlever of Hall, Arbery, Gilligan, Roberts & Shanlever as they repeat the webinar:

Strategies For Dealing With FMLA Abuse
Thursday, February 27, 2014

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Live webinar via your computer

Many in-house counsel and human resources officials are aware that their company, as a federal contractor, is required to engage in affirmative action.  However, many are unaware of the significant risks associated with a compliance audit of their affirmative action program by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”).