In a new directive released on August 10, 2018, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced plans to start conducting focused reviews in the new fiscal year, which begins October 1st. Directive 2018-04 instructs OFCCP staff to dedicate a portion of future scheduling lists on focused reviews of contractor compliance with Executive Order 11246, Section 503 and VEVRAA. These targeted reviews will...

Dan Newberry joined the Army right after high school, expecting to complete a lifelong military career. That plan ended abruptly in 2012. Honorably discharged due to a medical-related disability, Dan soon found himself adrift. 'I went from having a sense of responsibility, pride and direction in life, to nothing. It was incredibly difficult,' he recalled. Trained as a paratrooper of the Army's Airborne Infantry...

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, or stranded on a desert island, you have likely heard the news that the Department of Labor (DOL) recently modified the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) exempt classification salary threshold from $455 per week to $913 per week. We can thank the FLSA for several of the most critical worker protections in place today. The FLSA established the federal minimum...

Imagine repeating the phrase, “There’s no place to audit. There’s no place to audit,” and – poof! – a closure letter arrives. Wouldn’t that be nice? Unfortunately, life only works that way in the movies. None of us own a crystal ball, have ever met a cornfield scarecrow that talks or admit to knowing one, or own a dog named Toto. Well, maybe someone has a pet named Toto. But we don’t have the power to click our prob...

As we approach the one year anniversary since the revised Section 503 disability regulation took effect, I sense a real shift in the contractor community’s attitude toward these changes. When the regulations first passed, contractors appeared overwhelmed and anxious. How would these regulations impact operations and how could they reasonably meet these new obligations? Comments ranged from burdensome to unrealistic. Som...