Congratulation! For today only I am having a special three for one deal. For the low low price of nothing, you get three of my hot-off-the press updates.

1.EEO-1 Reports are due by July 19, 2021.

This is more of a reminder. If you are an employer who is required to file an EEO-1 Component 1 report for 2019 or 2020, you must file both reports with the EEOC by July 19, 2021. Don’t wait too long or forget to file for 2019 if you are required to do so.

2.The EEOC has filed suit against Walmart in Chicago for failing to provide a hearing-impaired applicant with an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter.

This is one of a series of lawsuits that the EEOC has filed against large employers, including McDonald’s, as part of its ongoing Strategic Enforcement Plan aimed at eliminating barriers to hiring disabled applicants. The key here is to know what your obligations are to accommodate disabled persons in the application and hiring process and to make sure that everyone involved in the process knows what to do and say. It only takes one untrained assistant to tell a hearing-impaired applicant that you don’t provide ASL interpreters to trigger a lawsuit.

I am currently handling several suits of this type filed by advocacy groups who send in “testers” posing as disabled applicants. They claim to be hearing impaired and ask if you will provide an ASL interpreter to translate as they go through the application process.  If you say anything other than “yes” they file suit.  Be aware, be prepared, and train your people on how to handle these situations.

3.President Biden Raises Minimum Wage to $15 for Federal Contractors.

On April 27, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order requiring all Federal Contractors and Subcontractors to pay workers on covered contracts a minimum of $15 an hour starting January 30, 2022. This is an increase from the current $10.95 minimum wage for Federal Contractors. The Order requires the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations implementing this EO by November 24, 2021.

If you are a Federal Contractor or Subcontractor, you should review your service contracts and subcontracts to ensure that they include a clause authorizing price increases resulting from direct labor costs caused by the increased minimum wage. These types of clauses usually allow for the recovery of accompanying increases in social security, unemployment taxes and workers’ compensation insurance costs, but they do not allow price increases to recover increased general and administrative costs, overhead, or profit.