Martha Zackin

Administrative Law Judge Recommends Dismissal of Department of Labor’s Pay Discrimination Claims Against Federal Contractor

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By Justin L. Engel

Following a two-week trial, Bello Welsh has secured a major victory for a federal contractor in an enforcement action alleging gender-based pay discrimination brought by the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) under Executive Order 11246.  The case, OFCCP v. Analogic Corporation, No. 2017-OFC-00001, is the first and only OFCCP case in the United States claiming gender pay discrimination to go to trial, and the decision is likely to have significant implications for OFCCP’s dealings with federal contractors going forward.

The origins of the case date back to an OFCCP compliance review that began in December 2011.  Over two years later, in January 2014, OFCCP issued a Notice of Violation claiming that the contractor violated the federal Executive Order by paying females in two specific positions less than males in those same positions.  A trial was held before Administrative Law Judge Colleen A. Geraghty in October 2017, and briefs were submitted in February 2018.

On March 22, 2019, Judge Geraghty issued a 43-page decision recommending that OFCCP’s pay discrimination claims be dismissed, rejecting the theory of discrimination presented by OFCCP’s expert, and finding instead that the contractor’s expert demonstrated that there was no such discrimination.  In so ruling, Judge Geraghty held that OFCCP failed to prove a pattern and practice case of pay discrimination under either a disparate impact or disparate treatment analysis.

Judge Geraghty specifically found OFCCP’s disparate impact claim to be deficient because OFCCP never identified a specific policy or practice that caused the alleged pay disparity.  Further, the statistical evidence offered by OFCCP’s expert to demonstrate a pay disparity was effectively refuted by the statistical evidence presented by the contractor’s expert.

Judge Geraghty also found OFCCP’s disparate treatment claim to be deficient because, again, OFCCP’s statistical evidence was rebutted by the contractor’s more persuasive statistical evidence.  Judge Geraghty further determined that OFCCP had failed to present “anecdotal evidence” – that is, specific instances – of intentional discrimination, while the contractor offered substantial evidence that it did not discriminate against women.

A final decision in the case will be issued by the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board.

The import of this case is substantial, as it is likely to impact the types of statistical and other evidence that will be deemed sufficient to support a pattern and practice claim of pay discrimination, be it based on gender or any other protected status.

Bello Welsh will be providing a more detailed discussion of the decision and its potential implications in the coming weeks.

Martha Zackin

Final Rule and Guidance Issued Implementing Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order

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On August 25, 2016, the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued a Final Rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement Executive Order 13673, the Fair Play and Safe Workplaces Executive Order (also known as the “blacklisting rule”).  The Department of Labor (DOL) also issued Final Guidance to assist the FAR Council and federal contracting agencies in the implementation of EO 13673.

Signed on July 31, 2014, and as described here, EO 13673 requires prospective and current federal contractors and subcontractors to disclose all violations of federal labor laws that result in administrative merits determinations, arbitral awards or decisions, or civil judgments. The Order also requires contractors and subcontractors to disclose specific information to workers each pay period regarding their wages and prohibits contractors from requiring that their workers sign arbitration agreements that encompass claims of sexual assault or harassment.

The Final Rule is effective October 25, 2016, which is earlier than had been expected. Fortunately, certain obligations under the Final Rule are now phased in, meaning that contractors and subcontractors have time in which to come up to full compliance. Contracts valued at or under $500,000 are excluded from the Final Rule, as are subcontracts for goods that are “commercially available off-the-shelf” items.

Disclosure. When fully implemented, contractors will be required to disclose violations of fourteen federal workplace laws from the previous three years – including laws addressing wage and hour, safety and health, collective bargaining, family and medical leave, and civil rights protections. The provision of EO 13673 requiring contractors to disclose violations of “equivalent” state laws has been paused, pending the DOL’s release of a comprehensive list of state laws covered by the Order; when released, this list will be subject to notice and comment before becoming effective.

Certain information pertaining to violations contractors disclose will be made public. These include: (1) the law violated; (2) the case number, charge number, docket number, or other unique identifier; (3) the date of the decision finding a violation; and (4) the name of the court, arbitrator, agency, board or commission that rendered the decision. Any other information provided voluntarily or at the request of the contracting officer (including information pertaining to mitigating factors and steps taken to achieve compliance) will not be made public unless the contractor chooses to make it so.

The process by which violations will be assessed is set forth in the Final Rule and Guidance. Initially, a new type of government official – an Agency Labor Compliance Advisor (ALCA) – will review the nature of the violations, to determine if any are serious, willful, repeated, or pervasive. After weighing any such violations against the severity of the violations, the size of the contractor, and any mitigating factors, the ALCA will provide his or her recommendation to the contracting officer.  As before, the decision to award or extend a contract rests with the contracting officer, who must determine whether the contractor is responsible and has a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics.

Pay Transparency. The Final Rule also requires contractors to provide workers with detailed wage statements every pay period, which must include: (1) total number of hours worked per pay period; (2) any overtime hours worked; (3) rate of pay; (4) gross pay; and (5) itemized additions to or deductions from gross pay. Contractors must also provide employees with written notice of their status as exempt or non-exempt from the overtime compensation requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Workers treated as independent contractors must be notified, in writing, of this status.

Arbitration. In addition, the Final Rule prohibits pre-dispute arbitration agreements that cover claims arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of claims of sexual assault or harassment. These disputes may be arbitrated, but only by voluntary consent given after any such dispute arises.

Implementation Schedule. The Final Rule sets forth a “phased-in” reporting requirement as follows (and as summarized by DOL here):

  1. September 12, 2016: Preassessmentbegins, through which current or prospective contractors may come to DOL for a voluntary assessment of their labor compliance history, in anticipation of bids on future contracts but independent of any specific acquisition.
  2. October 25, 2016: Mandatory disclosure and assessment of labor law compliance begins for all prime contractors under consideration for contracts with a total value greater than or equal to $50 million. At first, the reporting disclosure period is limited to one (1) year and will gradually increase each year to a maximum disclosure period of three (3) years by October 25, 2018. Also, contractors and subcontractors whose contracts are valued at more than $1,000,000 are prohibited from requiring employees to sign pre-dispute arbitration clauses covering claims arising out of Title VII or claims for sexual assault or harassment.
  3. January 1, 2017: The Paycheck Transparency clause takes effect, requiring contractors to provide wage statements, notice of overtime status, and notice of any independent contractor relationship to their covered workers.
  4. April 25, 2017: The total contract value threshold for prime contracts requiring disclosure and assessment of labor law compliance drops to $500,000.
  5. October 25, 2017: Mandatory assessment begins for all subcontractors under consideration for subcontracts with a total value greater than or equal to $500,000 (other than subcontracts for commercially available off-the-shelf items).

Action Items. Even with a phased-in implementation schedule, there is much to be done.  For example:

  1. Current or prospective contractors should decide whether to participate in the DOL’s preassessment process. According to information provided by DOL (here), using the published Final Guidance, if a contractor that has been assessed by the DOL as responsible subsequently submits a bid, the contracting officer and the ALCA may use the DOL’s assessment that the contractor has a satisfactory record of labor law compliance unless additional labor law violations have been disclosed.
  2. Contractors (and subcontractors) should begin developing and implementing processes for capturing information required by the Final Rule.
  3. Existing arbitration agreements should be reviewed for compliance.
  4. Existing training and compliance programs should be reviewed and revised, as appropriate, or new programs developed. A well-educated workforce can help minimize the risk of violations that must be reported
Bello Welsh LLP

Update: Comment Period Extended for Proposed Rule for Federal Contractor Paid Sick Leave

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By: Alexandra (Sasha) Thaler

The Department of Labor has extended the public comment period on its Proposed Rule for Federal Contractor Paid Sick Leave, based on public comments received and the interest that has been expressed in this matter.  The comment period was due to close on March 28; comments may now be submitted through April 12, 2016.

See our earlier post for more detail on the Proposed Rule.

Bello Welsh LLP

Proposed Rule Issued for Federal Contractor Paid Sick Leave

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By Alexandra (Sasha) Thaler

The Department of Labor (DOL) announced last Thursday that it has posted for comment its Proposed Rule implementing President Obama’s September 7, 2015 Executive Order (EO 13706), which requires certain federal contractors and their subcontractors to provide employees with up to 7 days (56 hours) of paid sick leave annually.  The rule affects contractors entering into new contracts on or after January 1, 2017 that are covered by the Service Contract Act, the Davis-Bacon Act, or the Fair Labor Standards Act, concessions contracts, and service contracts in connection with federal property or lands. These contractors will need to include a new contract clause in applicable solicitations and government contracts, included as Appendix A to the Proposed Rule.

Under the new rule, employees must be allowed to earn paid sick time at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. This mirrors many recently enacted state and municipal sick time laws across the country. However, accruals may not be capped at less than 56 hours, an amount that is higher than required by some jurisdictions, including Massachusetts and California.

The Proposed Rule provides that sick time must be made available for absences due to the employee’s own physical or mental illness, injury or medical condition, and for obtaining diagnosis, care or preventative treatment for the employee, as well as for caring for family members for the same reasons, and for absences relating to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking (including for medical, legal and other needs that may arise in those circumstances). In a departure from some existing state and local laws, however, the definition of a family member is quite broad, and includes not only children, parents, spouses and domestic partners, but also “any other individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.”

The new federal contractor requirement also has some of the same aspects of other sick time laws that are most likely to cause problems in administration, such as allowing employees to use sick time in 1-hour increments, requiring carryover of unused hours from year to year, requiring reinstatement of unused time following interruptions in service of up to 12 months, and requiring sick time to be granted even if the employee provides little or no prior notice.

Due to the rash of activity in this area in recent years, many employers have already implemented paid sick time policies, while others have had comprehensive PTO policies for some time. The Proposed Rule permits existing sick time, PTO or other time off policies to substitute for the new paid sick time requirement so long as those policies meet the minimum standards of the new rule. Employers that plan to rely on existing policies to meet the new requirements should consult with experienced employment counsel to assess whether they fully meet the new requirements. The good news is that employers will have until January 1, 2017 to implement compliant policies. The Wage and Hour division invites comments on the proposed rule until March 28, 2016.

Martha Zackin

EEOC Proposes Changes to EEO-1 Reporting to Include Pay Data

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By Martha J. Zackin

Today, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a proposed revision to the Employer Information Report (EEO-1) to include the annual collection and reporting of pay data.  Currently, federal law requires federal contractors with 50 or more employees, and all other employers with 100 or more employees, to file an annual EEO-1 report, which reports employees’ ethnicity, race, and sex by job category.  The revised EEO-1 would require all employers with 100 or more employees to continue to collect and report this demographic data and, in addition, pay data.  Federal contractors with between 50 and 99 employees would not be required to report pay data, but would continue to report ethnicity, race, and sex.

According to the press release published announcing this new requirement, the data collected will be used by both the EEOC and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) “to assess complaints of discrimination, focus agency investigations, and identify existing pay disparities that may warrant further examination.”  In addition, as described in an EEOC- published “Questions and Answer” document, the data will be aggregated and published, to “help employers evaluate their own pay practices to prevent pay discrimination in their workplaces.”

A “Small Business Fact Sheet” provides a detailed description of the data that would be collected if the proposal becomes law.  In summary, using W-2 wage data employers would tally and report the number of employees within each EEO-1 job category whose W-2 pay for twelve months was in one of twelve “pay bands.”  These pay bands, which would track the twelve pay bands used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Occupation Employment Statistics survey, are:

    1. $19,239 and under;
    2. $19,240 – $24,439;
    3. $24,440 – $30,679;
    4. $30,680 – $38,999;
    5. $39,000 – $49,919;
    6. $49,920 – $62,919;
    7. $62,920 – $80,079;
    8. $80,080 – $101,919;
    9. $101,920 – $128,959;
    10. $128,960 – $163,799;
    11. $163,800 – $207,999; and
    12. $208,000 and over.

In addition to reporting (by ethnicity, race and sex) the number of employees whose total W-2 pay fell into each pay band, employers would also tally and report the total number of hours worked by the employees counted in each pay band over the prior twelve months. This would accounts for part-time or partial-year employment.

Members of the public may submit comments through April 1, 2016.  Barring revision or withdrawal of the proposal, employers will be required to comply with the new EEO-1 obligations by submit ting pay data as of the September 30, 2017 EEO-1 filing deadline.

The EEOC also The proposed revised EEO-1 may be viewed here.

Martha Zackin

Federal Contractors and Subcontractors Must Comply with New Pay Transparency Rules

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By Martha J. Zackin

As is often reported, there is a pay gap in many of today’s workplaces between men and women, and between wages earned amongst various racial groups.   Many commentators believe that employer policies forbidding employees from discussing pay with co-workers perpetuate these wage gaps, by preventing workers from finding out if they are being discriminated against in time to act.

To narrow and, ultimately eliminate that gap, in April 2014, President Obama issued Executive Order 13665, which prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from firing, failing to hire, or otherwise disciplining employees or job applicants who inquire about, discuss, or disclose their compensation or the compensation of other employees or applicants.   Read more →

Martha Zackin

Government Contractors- Industry Groups Ask White House to Stop Targeting Contractors

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In recent years, President Obama has issued twelve Executive Orders directed at government contractors, resulting in the enactment of numerous and burdensome regulations.  On August 3, 2015, four industry groups wrote to White House advisors expressing their concern that these changes have had the unintended impact of significantly increasing the costs of doing business with the government, and respectfully asking that no further Executive Orders focused on government contractors be issued.  A copy of the letter may be found here.

Although not referenced in the letter, EO 13,673, pertaining to Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces, is of particular concern to contractors.  As described in an earlier blog post (here), this Executive Order requires contractors to disclose whether there have been any administrative merits determination, arbitral award or decision, or civil judgment rendered against the contractor within the preceding 3 years for violations of any one of fourteen federal labor and employment laws, or any equivalent state law.

We hope the White House listens.

 

Martha Zackin

OFCCP Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Seeking to Update its Sex Discrimination Guidelines

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By Martha J. Zackin

On January 28, 2015, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, seeking to update its sex discrimination guidelines applicable to federal contractors and subcontractors covered by Executive Order 11246.

According to the press release published to announce its proposal, OFCCP’s “sex discrimination guidelines are woefully out of date and don’t reflect established law or the reality of modern workplaces.”  The proposed rule would rescind existing guidance, and align OFCCP’s regulations with those regulations applicable to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Read more →