On Oct. 29, the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) notified federal contractors of an opportunity to object to two new Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests for 2021 Type 2 EEO-1 Reports filed by the University of Utah and a non-profit entity, “As You Sow.” Objections must be filed with OFCCP no later than Dec. 9. Contractors are encouraged to consider filing objections to release of the requested information, which may be confidential commercial information, information protected from disclosure under FOIA exemption 4. Failure to object will mean individual contractor information will be made public.
The new FOIA requests are in addition to the prior FOIA requests of Center for Investigative Reporting that sought Type 2 EEO-1 Reports spanning 2016 to 2020. OFCCP received a significant number of objections to these previous FOIA requests. Litigation related to the release of that data is currently pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Previously filed objections to the CIR FOIA will not prevent the release of the 2021 EEO-1 reports. New objections must be filed.
