Newsroom
Vendors Spend 11 Million Hours a Year to Satisfy Anti-Bias Rules
July 5, 2011 — Bloomberg Government
Labor & Employment Group counsel Rebecca L. Springer is featured for her comments in a piece about how U.S. federal contractors will face more scrutiny under the Labor Department’s new auditing process and comprehensive reviews. This comes as a result of the Obama Administration increasing the funding for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
According to Springer, "The length of audits varies from several months to as long as 10 years. The audit length will probably grow under the Obama push as the office moves toward more onsite visits."
Attorneys Cite More OFCCP Enforcement, Question Lack of Compliance Guidance
March 18, 2011 — BNA's Federal Contracts Report
Labor & Employment Group co-chair and partner Kris D. Meade and counsel Rebecca L. Springer are featured for their thoughts on the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) increased scrutiny of contractors and the lack of compliance guidance.
Springer said the change in presidential administrations is partially responsible for the agency's increased enforcement activities. However, the OFCCP also has more resources than it did previously, including a bigger budget and significantly more auditors.
With respect to compensation guidance for contractors, Meade said, "even when the existing compensation guidance came out in 2006, the agency declined to describe at any length what it actually does with compensation data..the rescission of this guidance will mean more on-sight audits and more discrepancy in how different district or regional offices approach audit issues."
"Fed Cracking Down on Discrimination by Federal Contractors"
January 25, 2011 — Compliance Week
Washington, D.C. – based Labor & Employment Group counsel Rebecca L. Springer is featured for her comments on the federal government changing case management procedures, signaling more aggressive and broader enforcement of anti-discrimination laws. In December 2010, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs announced that it was discontinuing its Active Case Management procedures that have been in practice since 2003, impacting government contractors accused of discriminatory practices.
According to Springer, “We’re seeing renewed vigor from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs right now and a more aggressive agency than it has been in the past. The OFCCP wants the flexibility to go after alleged discrimination and not be tied down to a particular process.”