Beginning yesterday, March 24, 2014, federal contractors and subcontractors have a number of new responsibilities. Contractors already have the existing obligation to collect demographic data regarding race and gender and take affirmative action to recruit, hire, and retain qualified minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and protected veterans. Now contractors must take additional steps to recruit and hire individuals with disabilities and protected veterans, including the collection of data related to the status of applicants and employees as protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Specifically, federal contractors and subcontractors are required to:
• Invite applicants and employees to self-identify as individuals with disabilities or protected veterans;
• Track and analyze data related to applicants and employees who are individuals with disabilities and/or protected veterans;
• Notify subcontractors and vendors (and labor unions, if applicable) of their Affirmative Action requirements;
• Conduct written effectiveness evaluations to determine whether efforts to reach out to individuals with disabilities and protected veterans have been successful;
• Establish a 7% utilization goal for individuals with disabilities to measure the efficacy of affirmative action steps;
• Establish a hiring benchmark for protected veterans or adopt the 7.2% national benchmark to measure the efficacy of affirmative action steps; and
• much more!

Additionally, for the first time ever, construction contractors will be required to have written affirmative action plans for individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. While some in the construction industry were hopeful that the new regulations impacting individuals with disabilities would not apply to them, on Friday, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. challenge to the validity of the regulations. The Court concluded that the new rules are valid and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has broad authority to interpret what it means to "take affirmative action."

Between these new rules and President Obama's Executive Order to raise the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors, federal contractors are facing an onslaught of new regulatory requirements.