First Healthcare Compliance CONNECT August 2022

Q & A: Employment
and Labor Law
Catherine Short
Catherine Walters, Partner
at Bybel Rutledge LLP, is
a management side labor
and employment attorney
representing employers of
all sizes. As a member of the
First Healthcare Compliance
editorial council, Catherine
is a frequent presenter at
educational events. For more information
regarding this topic please view a related
webinar and listen to an episode of 1st
Talk Compliance for further discussion and
learning.
Below Catherine answers some common questions
and provides explanations of a few timely topics
related to employment and labor law.
Could you explain what the OFCCP is and
discuss the related issues?
The OFCCP means Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs. It’s basically considered to
be the federal watchdog with respect to federal
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contractors who receive federal monies
to perform work or provide products. The
OFCCP enforces a number of laws as to
employers. Primarily it enforces Executive
Order 11246, which requires affirmative
action on behalf of minorities and
females. Then there’s the Rehabilitation
Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act, which requires employers to provide
affirmative action and equal opportunity
to individuals with disabilities. There’s also
the Vietnam Veterans, VEVRAA. OFCCP enforces
the Vietnam Veterans law as well, and it requires
affirmative action on behalf of protected veterans.
It’s not just Vietnam veterans at this point, affirmative
action is typically applicable to federal contractors
with varying sizes of federal contracts, and numbers
of employees 50 or more employees, and you must
have a written plan. What we see on an annual basis
is employers who must update their affirmative
action plans. Annually, a federal contractor will
update those plans. The OFCCP is the one that not
only monitors those plans but accepts charges of
discrimination and investigates those. They’re really
focused on discrimination and much of their focus is
on systemic discrimination, as opposed to individual
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