*Comments Needed by 10/28/11
The Office of Management and Budget is requesting comments with regard to the OFCCP request for changes to the Scheduling Letter, which is used to schedule Federal contractors for Compliance evaluations. Also included in this request are significant changes to the Itemized Listing that accompanies the Scheduling Letter. The general feeling already expressed during the OFCCP comment period is that the OFCCP HAS SIGNIFICANTLY UNDERESTIMATED THE BURDEN THAT THE REQUESTED CHANGES WILL PLACE ON CONTRACTORS.
Despite the majority opinion of those who commented, the OFCCP made only three minor modifications (outlined below) to the original notice of change. The request for approval submitted by the OFCCP to the OMB summarizes the public comments received and states: “OFCCP seriously considered the comments we received and the calculation of burden that our proposed changes would create for contractors. After doing so, we determined that the benefits associated with receiving improved data from contractors and the net reduction of 1.34 hours in total burden hours spent by contractors in supplying OFCCP with that data are the best, most innovative and least burdensome tasks for achieving regulatory ends.” Note: The burden hours per contractor for the current scheduling letter is 28.35, the initial request for change estimated the burden hours to be reduced to 26.01, the recent modifications have increased the estimated burden hours per contractor to 27.01.
MODIFICATIONS MADE
The modifications to the request do not reflect the serious consideration of these comments asserted by the OFCCP. Three minor modifications, none responsive to the comments related to major changes imposing the largest burden, were made to the proposed changes to the Itemized Listing:
1. Item 8: Contractor Employment Leave Policies:
a. providing the option to submit employee handbook / manual or only relevant pages (i.e. TOC and pages with leave policies); and
b. clarifying the scope of leave policies requested: “Submission of employment leave policies including, but not limited to, sick leave, medical leave, personal leave, leave for pregnancy, leave for pregnancy related conditions, leave for religious holidays and observances, Family Medical Leave and other leaves of absence; and policies on accommodations for religious holidays and observances.”
2. Item 11: Employment Activity (submission by Job Group AND Job Title, individual race / ethnic categories and ‘pool of candidates’): The only change to this item was an increase in burden from 1 to 2 hours.
3. Item 13: Supporting Documents: OFCCP is changing the proposed request that contractors submit their VETS-100 and/or 100A forms from the last three years to requesting that they submit such forms for two years (the current year and previous year).
Click here to review the Supporting Statement and assess the impact of this CRITICAL proposed regulation.
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PREVIOUS COMMENTS SUBMITTED TO THE OFCCP
Included in our blog of July 19 is a sampling of the public comments submitted to the OFCCP as well as a link to view all comments posted. The public comments contain sound detailed arguments and overwhelmingly encourage the OFCCP to revise or reconsider completely the proposed changes.
*SUBMIT COMMENTS TO:
· 202-395-6881 (Fax); or
· 202-395-6929 (Phone); or
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, ATTENTION: OMB Desk Officer for the Department of Labor, OFFICE OF FEDERAL CONTRACT COMPLIANCE PROGRAMS, Office of Management and Budget, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503
