OFCCP wishes to return to the long-standing policy and practice on religious exemption under the Bush and Obama administrations

OFCCP has submitted a proposal to rescind the final rule “Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause’s Religious Exemption,” which took effect on January 8, 2021. The proposal will be published in the Federal Register on November 9, 2021.  

Since 2002, Executive Order (E.O.) 11246 has contained a religious exemption for certain religious organizations, corporations, associations, education institutions, and societies regarding the employment of individuals of a particular religion. The E.O. permits qualifying federal contractors that are religious organizations to hire individuals who share their religious beliefs. The agency claims that the final rule, adopted by the Trump administration, is “at odds with the weight of relevant case law, including Title VII case law. “OFCCP has no record of any federal contractor having invoked this exemption in any OFCCP compliance evaluation or complaint investigation.”

The proposed rescission would preserve the religious exemption under E.O. 11246 and ensure that the religious exemption is interpreted and applied consistently with Title VII principles and case law. To learn more about the proposed rescission, review the following tools:

• • Director Jenny R. Yang’s Blog Post: Safeguarding Equality and Religious Freedom
  • OFCCP’s Landing Page for the Proposal to Rescind Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause’s Religious Exemption

The proposal will provide instructions for submitting comments. All public comments must be submitted by December 9, 2021.