Federal Contractor Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Form Approved for Three More Years

On January 31, 2017, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the voluntary self-identification of disability form for an additional three years, through January 31, 2020. Other than the changed expiration date, the form content remains the same.

Federal contractors must begin using the new form with the January 31, 2020 expiration date immediately. For contractors who use electronic versions of the form, the electronic version must be updated to reflect the new expiration date of January 31, 2020. All contractors are required to use the form as issued by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and without modification.  

For additional information on the purpose and requirements of the Voluntary Self-identification of Disability Form, please see here.

White House Press Secretary Issued Official Statement of Continuing Enforcement of Federal Contractor LGBTQ Protections

In July 2014, President Obama issued Executive Order 13672 which amended Executive Order 11246 by explicitly including “sexual orientation and gender identity” as additional classes protected from discrimination by federal contractors. Previously, Executive Order 11246 only referred to “sex.” There has been much speculation about whether the new administration would repeal or otherwise modify certain executive orders pertaining to the OFCCP, including Executive Order 13672.

The White House provided clarity on this executive order in a presidential statement published on January 31, 2017. The Office of the Press Secretary for President Trump formally stated that “at the direction of President Donald J. Trump,” the “executive order signed in 2014, which protects employees from anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination while working for federal contractors, will remain intact[.]” In the statement, the White House also provided that it is “determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community.”

Contractors should ensure that equal employment and related clauses prohibit discrimination because of sexual orientation and gender identity. Contractors using full text, longer listings of equal employment opportunity as tag lines in recruitment information, and careers websites should ensure that these categories are also included.

Some other rules of which fates remain uncertain include: the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces regulations mostly preliminarily enjoined nationwide by a federal judge in Texas; the minimum wage and paid sick leave requirements for federal contractors which were implemented by the Obama Administration; and the greatly expanded reporting on the EEO-1 form scheduled for March 2018.