Because OFCCP has not yet released the new “Federal Contract Compliance Manual” (“FCCM”) to the public even while the agency uses it to train its Compliance Officers, I thought I would devote this column to the new FCCM and report (“verbatim”) some of its more provocative content. Because you do not have copies of it, I did not want to summarize it. Rather, I wanted you to see for yourself whether I had faithfully characterized what I am reading. The new FCCM is dated July 2013 and is a streamlined and svelte 486 pages long. The new 2013 FCCM replaces the 730 page 1998 OFCCP FCCM, effective already.
SUMMARY: While the new FCCM is very well written, and understandable, there are many highly provocative policy changes which affect audits in an immediate and dramatic fashion. I have tried to give you a smattering, below, of some of the most important policy and practice shifts. However, my organization of the material, below, does not proceed from most important to least important, but rather follows OFCCP’s layout and organization of its new FCCM. My commentary is in black “ink” and usually precedes the FCCM passage of interest. You will find the new FCCM language of interest in red bold “ink”, below.
With that said, the three biggest shifts in policy I discuss and urge you to look for, below, appear to me to be OFCCP’s new-found assumption that it now has legal authority to conduct “Offsite Reviews of Records”…
THIS COLUMN IS MEANT TO ASSIST IN A GENERAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE CURRENT LAW AND PRACTICE RELATING TO OFCCP. IT IS NOT TO BE REGARDED AS LEGAL ADVICE. COMPANIES OR INDIVIDUALS WITH PARTICULAR QUESTIONS SHOULD SEEK ADVICE OF COUNSEL.
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