The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has extended the comment period on its proposed rule aimed at increasing employment of people with disabilities. The new deadline for comments is February 21.
The OFCCP published a notice of proposed rulemaking on December 9, 2011, that outlined the proposal to revise Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which obligates most federal contractors and subcontractors to ensure equal employment opportunity for qualified workers with disabilities.
The proposed rule would require contractors to set a hiring goal of having seven percent of their employees be qualified workers with disabilities. The rule details mandatory actions contractors would have to take in the areas of recruitment, training, record keeping, and dissemination of affirmative action policies.
The new comment deadline follows several requests for extensions from the original February 7 deadline, according to the OFCCP. A Labor Department statement said the extension is to “provide additional time for interested parties to analyze the issues raised in the proposal and to provide their comments.” Those who already have submitted comments may use the extension to revise or add to their original comments.
Parties interested in commenting can view the proposal and submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal and referencing RIN 1250-AA02.