The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) under the Biden administration's Department of Labor has proposed limiting religious exemptions to a federal discrimination law that covers entities that contract with the federal government.
The current law allows contractors to uphold religious convictions in specific hiring decisions. The Department of Labor division wants to rescind a federal contractor rule that was adopted in 2020, during Trump's presidency.
According to the Christian Post, changes to the rule were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, in which the OFCCP argued that the Trump-era measure had too wide a scope compared to previous administrations and "ran afoul of discrimination measures governing federal contractors."
The Trump administration's law was established in response to the Obama administration's directive that added protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity when it comes to employment for federal contracts. Critics of the Obama-era rule expressed concern that faith-based contractors would lose their contracts if their hiring policies faiil to comply with the federal government's interpretation of the law that bans discrimination against members of th LGBT community.
Many religious organizations contract with the federal government, offering "relief and development services, prison programs, research and even technical assistance," the report said. Religious organizations that do contract with the government require staff to agree to statements of faith and abide by such guidelines.
In a statement released on Monday, OFCCP Director Jenny Yang remarked that the Department of Labor division's "proposed rescission would protect against discrimination and safeguard principles of religious freedom. With this proposal, OFCCP would simply return to our policy and practice of considering the facts of each case and applying Title VII principles and case law and other applicable law."
The Biden administration's proposed rule change argued that "the test adopted in the 2020 rule permits a contractor whose purpose and/or character is not primarily religious to qualify for the Executive Order 11246 religious exemption." The OFCCP argued that it would undermine the federal government's policy of requiring federal contractors to "provide equal employment opportunity, subject to a religious exemption for contractors with primarily religious purpose and character."
The OFCCP added that the Trump-era rule contrasts the general principle that religious employers are prevented from discriminating on the basis of protected characteristics other than religion, even if these hiring decisions are made for sincerely held beliefs. They added that the Trump-era rule "disregards" Executive Order 11246, "undermines the government's interest in ensuring equal employment opportunity by federal contractors," and goes against how Congress' believes Title VII religious exemptions should work.
Under Executive Order 11246, federal contractors who earn at least $10,000 from the government annually are barred from discriminationg based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. The law was signed in 1965 by then-President Lyndon Johnson.
The Trump-era changes offered protections for religious organizations, which then U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia said would protect them from any "fear that acceptance of a federal contract or subcontract will require them to abandon their religious character or identity."
