NT Lakis lawyers have filed written comments with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) on the agency’s proposal to conduct so-called “compliance checks” of federal construction contractors. Compliance checks are designed to be a modified type of compliance evaluation permitted by OFCCP’s regulations that ostensibly focus simply on whether contractors have maintained required records.
OFCCP notes that it intends the construction compliance checks to be less burdensome than the full compliance reviews that contractors typically undergo, and that the checks will enable the agency to “reach more contractors,” “impose a smaller contractor burden,” and conserve agency resources. In fact, however, as our comments point out, the agency’s proposal would require construction contractors to submit so much information that the compliance checks would be nearly as burdensome – both to contractors and OFCCP – as a full compliance review.
Accordingly, we recommend several ways in which OFCCP can reduce the burdens of its proposed construction compliance checks without compromising the agency’s ability to determine compliance. More specifically, we propose modeling the construction checks after the compliance checks of supply and service contractors that the agency currently conducts, which involve submission of less burdensome information than a typical full compliance review.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.