Thursday, November 5, 2020: OFCCP Compliance: Looking Back and Ahead
For the 3rd year in a row, OFCCP Director Craig Leen spoke candidly to the National Employment Law Institute’s (NELI) Affirmative Action Briefing audience. Co-Chaired by John Fox and DE’s own Candee Chambers, this highly anticipated event brought as much education and discussion in this tumultuous year as it did during its debut 39 years ago!
In a whirlwind three hours, Candee and John laid the groundwork for Director Leen to discuss his legacy, the Agency’s achievements, setbacks, and even late-breaking news (see the PDN story below which broke in the hour before the NELI Webinar conference began). At the same time, Director Leen’s future remains up in the air. While his current appointment to OFCCP will terminate on January 20, 2021 when President-Elect Biden is sworn into office, Director Leen is still hoping the U.S. Senate will vote to confirm him between now and Monday January 3, 2021 when the 116th Congress will end. President Trump’s nomination of Mr. Leen to become the next Inspector General of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management will also expire with the end of the 116th Congress.
That said, when asked about the legacy he hopes to leave, to no one’s surprise, he answered that #1 was his primary focus and drive pursuant to OFCCP’s Section 503 regulations, supporting individuals with disabilities. #2 is the new “PDN” Rule (see story below) and its approach to “transparent” and “fair” OFCCP treatment of contractors. Finally, #3 is “A LOT” of interaction with the affirmative action community in a myriad of events and activities over the past several years.
Additional topics included the recent, and quite controversial, Executive Order (EO) 13950, directed at Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) training (see our recent blog). Director Leen stressed that contractors should not stop D&I training, but rather review it against the prohibitions of EO 13950 and EO 11246 and make any necessary changes.
Director Leen’s speech wouldn’t be a speech without mention of the Agency’s four “pillars” to success. Each initiative, Directive, Rule, and activity coming from the Agency is tied to one or more of the four core principles of the strategic plan to promote certainty, efficiency, recognition, and transparency. The NELI handout materials link to a DE Week In Review story about each of the hundreds of major OFCCP initiatives within each of the four “Pillars” and in turn contain a link to the underlying original documents of interest so you may read what was actually written.