Government Contracting, Compliance, and Reporting

As a government contractor, you face constant pressure to balance business priorities with complex and evolving compliance obligations. From state and federal affirmative action planning to agency-specific requirements, emerging state and local pay data reporting requirements, and more, even small missteps can trigger costly audits, reputational risks, or lost contracts. Our team understands these challenges and helps contractors manage their workforce compliance obligations so they can stay audit-ready, mitigate risk, and keep their focus on winning and delivering contracts. 

Federal and state regulations influence nearly every aspect of your employment practices, whether you currently have government contracts or are trying to win your first one. Bidding on and entering into government contracts without knowledge of all these requirements is a recipe for losing money. Our attorneys can help you understand, consider, and comply with the plethora of applicable laws to make sure you’re prepared. We’ll help you stay compliant by preparing federal and state affirmative action plans, managing required pay data filings, conducting pay equity audits, and advising on policies, training, and responding to agency reviews.

PREPARATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAMS

The Fisher Phillips Government Contracting, Compliance, and Reporting Practice Group knows that affirmative action is much more than just a numbers game. For contractors and subcontractors, we prepare and update affirmative action programs to comply with federal, state, and local requirements, guided by merit-based principles. If a third-party vendor created your affirmative action program, we’ll evaluate the program to ensure it meets the latest legal and regulatory standards. Then, after your program is up and running, we go one step further – we help integrate your compliance initiatives into your workplace by evaluating how best to match your plan with your company culture.

TRAINING AND COMPLIANCE

We evaluate which laws cover your operations. By determining specific coverage obligations under the Rehabilitation Act, Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), and other relevant contracting laws and Executive Orders, we help you understand the competitive playing field. We also provide comprehensive evaluations of your compliance and ensure accurate workforce and compensation data for OFCCP, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and related filings. We advise on required reports such as EEO-1, VETS-4212, state pay data submissions (as required by California, Illinois, and other jurisdictions) and other state and local compliance reports. Above all, our goal is to provide you the tools not just to meet current compliance requirements, but to craft long-lasting solutions to address future issues. This includes working with you not only to implement, but to maintain, train, and educate your workforce on your equal employment opportunity practices, affirmative action program and diversity initiatives, in a proactive and strategic manner.

REPRESENTATION

We offer effective representation during compliance reviews and associated administrative proceedings with federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), EEOC, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), or other state-level enforcement bodies. We have strong relationships with these government offices across the country, and we can help maintain a professional working relationship so that you survive a government audit. If push comes to shove, we can defend an affected class assertion or negotiate a favorable resolution.