BITS & PIECES: New AAP Regulations Covering Individuals with Disabilities & Veterans - Equal Opportunity Clause - Tagline for Solicitation and Advertisements

On March 23, 2014 new federal regulations for Federal service and supply contractors went into effect; one for Individuals with Disabilities (IWD) and one for Veterans. The regulations require contractors to add “disability” and “veteran” to the Equal Opportunity tagline in solicitation and advertisements for employees. Older regulations require contractors to include language indicating they will consider all qualified applicants, regardless of race, color, sex, national origin or religion. In a 2014 OFCCP webinar, officials said contractors should use “disability” and “vet” at a minimum in solicitations and advertisements; abbreviations “D and V are “not adequate”.

Below is the related text found on the OFCCP web site under their Question and Answers:

Vacancy Announcement Tagline

1. May contractors satisfy the EEO tagline requirement by abbreviating "disability" and "protected veteran status" as "D" and "V," respectively?

Contractors may refer to those protected by Section 503 or VEVRAA by abbreviation, but such abbreviations must be commonly understood by those seeking employment. Simply using "D" and "V" are not adequate abbreviations for this reason. For those protected by Section 503 or VEVRAA, the tagline should at a minimum state "disability" and "vet" so that the tagline will be clearly understood by jobseekers.

BITS & PIECES: New AAP Regulations Covering Individuals with Disabilities & Veterans - EEO Clause for Contracts with Suppliers

On March 23, 2014 new federal regulations for Federal service and supply contractors went into effect. There are two regulations, one for Individuals with Disabilities (IWD) and one for Veterans. One of the changes is in the language for contracts with suppliers. Both regulations require additional EEO language for contracts with suppliers.  

Bottom line, there are three ways to post the notice(s) and meet the regulations:

Post the entire text for each regulation (one for IWD and one for Veterans).

Post the individual citations (short version) for each regulation.

Post a combined version (this is the highlighted version below as drafted by the OFCCP on their web site).

 A contractor can determine what version they may choose to site the regulations.

Below is the exact text placed by the OFCCP on its Question and Answer web site. This is their example of combining the previous language covering race, color, religion, sex or national origin with the new language adding IWDs and Veterans into one statement. This statement can be used to meet the requirements for all three regulations.  Your old language in the contracts can be replaced with this new language.

Below is the published question followed by the highlighted answer found on the OFCCP’s web site:

2. Are federal contractors permitted to combine all of the Equal Opportunity (EO) clauses required by 41 CFR § 60-300.5(a), 41 CFR § 60-741.5(a), and 41 CFR § 60-1.4(a) (or for construction contractors, 41 CFR § 60-4.3(a)) into a single, consolidated “incorporation by reference” clause?

Yes, contractors may combine all of their required EO clauses into a single "incorporation by reference" clause, provided that the entire combined clause is set in bold text and the prescribed content of the veteran and disability EO "incorporation by reference" clauses is preserved. The following example provides one illustration of how this might be done for a supply and service contractor:

This contractor and subcontractor shall abide by the requirements of 41 CFR §§ 60-1.4(a), 60-300.5(a) and 60-741.5(a). These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Moreover, these regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, protected veteran status or disability.