{"id":990783,"date":"2021-11-09T17:14:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T22:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=990783"},"modified":"2021-11-09T17:14:49","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T22:14:49","slug":"labor-department-seeks-to-revoke-trump-era-expansion-of-religious-exemptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/labor-department-seeks-to-revoke-trump-era-expansion-of-religious-exemptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Department Seeks To Revoke Trump-Era Expansion Of Religious Exemptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flabor-department-seeks-to-revoke-trump-era-expansion-of-religious-exemptions%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=990783&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"p1\">The Department of Labor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/ofccp\/ofccp20211108\">announced<\/a> Monday it will seek to revoke a Trump administration rule that allows for broader religious exemptions to anti-discrimination measures governing federal contractors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/nbc-out\/out-politics-and-policy\/u-s-proposes-rescinding-trump-era-expansion-religious-exemptions-n1283465\">reported<\/a> by NBC News, the previous rule, which took effect in January, \u201cbroadened the exemption to include employers who \u2018hold themselves out to the public as carrying out a religious purpose.\u2019 The exemption previously applied to a more narrowly defined set of religious groups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Department of Labor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/ofccp\/ofccp20211108\">explained<\/a> its proposal, stating, \u201cThe U.S. Department of Labor has&nbsp;announced a proposal to rescind the final rule \u2018Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause\u2019s Religious Exemption.\u2019\u2026Rescinding this rule would have the effect of returning department policy and practice to those that were operative during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cExecutive Order 11246 prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. The order contains a religious exemption for certain religious corporations, associations, educational institutions and societies with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion,\u201d the department explained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe final rule that took effect on Jan. 8, 2021 departed from OFCCP\u2019s long-standing policy and practice of applying Title VII principles and case law to interpret the exemption,\u201d the department noted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">It added that the proposal by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the department\u2019s area which enforces the executive order, \u201cwould preserve [Executive Order 11246\u2019s]\u2019s religious exemption which would still be available to qualifying contractors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Jenny R. Yang, the OFCCP Director, said, \u201cThe Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class>\u201cWe are proposing a rescission of the religious exemption rule to protect workers from discrimination and safeguard principles of religious freedom,\u201d Yang <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/nbc-out\/out-politics-and-policy\/u-s-proposes-rescinding-trump-era-expansion-religious-exemptions-n1283465\">said, per NBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The OFFCP found the Trump-era move to be \u201cunnecessary and problematic,\u201d Yang said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe proposed rescission would also promote economy and efficiency in federal procurement by preventing the exclusion of qualified and talented employees on the basis of protected characteristics,\u201d Yang said. \u201cThis ensures that taxpayer funds are not used to discriminate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Federal Register <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2021\/11\/09\/2021-24376\/proposal-to-rescind-implementing-legal-requirements-regarding-the-equal-opportunity-clauses\">published<\/a> the proposal on Tuesday and the department will allow comments to be sent in by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Labor announced Monday it will seek to revoke a Trump administration rule that allows for broader religious exemptions to anti-discrimination measures governing federal contractors.As reported by NBC News, the previous rule, which took effect in January, \u201cbroadened the exemption to include employers who \u2018hold themselves out to the public as carrying out a religious purpose.\u2019 The exemption previously applied to a more narrowly defined set of religious groups.\u201dThe Department of Labor explained its proposal, stating, \u201cThe U.S. Department of Labor has\u00a0announced a proposal to rescind the final rule \u2018Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause\u2019s Religious Exemption.\u2019\u2026Rescinding this rule would have the effect of returning department policy and practice to those that were operative during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.\u201d\u201cExecutive Order 11246 prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. The order contains a religious exemption for certain religious corporations, associations, educational institutions and societies with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion,\u201d the department explained.\u201cThe final rule that took effect on Jan. 8, 2021 departed from OFCCP\u2019s long-standing policy and practice of applying Title VII principles and case law to interpret the exemption,\u201d the department noted.\u00a0It added that the proposal by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the department\u2019s area which enforces the executive order, \u201cwould preserve [Executive Order 11246\u2019s]\u2019s religious exemption which would still be available to qualifying contractors.\u201dJenny R. Yang, the OFCCP Director, said, \u201cThe Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs\u2019 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.\u201d\u201cWe are proposing a rescission of the religious exemption rule to protect workers from discrimination and safeguard principles of religious freedom,\u201d Yang said, per NBC News.The OFFCP found the Trump-era move to be \u201cunnecessary and problematic,\u201d Yang said.\u201cThe proposed rescission would also promote economy and efficiency in federal procurement by preventing the exclusion of qualified and talented employees on the basis of protected characteristics,\u201d Yang said. \u201cThis ensures that taxpayer funds are not used to discriminate.\u201dThe Federal Register published the proposal on Tuesday and the department will allow comments to be sent in by or before December 9.It stated, \u201cOFCCP proposes to rescind the regulations established in the 2020 rule in their entirety. OFCCP believes that the 2020 rule creates a lack of clarity regarding the scope and application of the exemption because, as explained in more detail below, it misstates the law in key respects. In addition, as a threshold matter, OFCCP has reevaluated the need for the rule.\u201dAs reported by Federal Computer Week, a federal business outlet, politicians on both sides of the aisle have responded to the move.The outlet noted:\u00a0Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) of the House Education and Labor Committee said in a statement that the Trump-era rule \u201cgave companies receiving taxpayer dollars the power to hire and fire employees for discriminatory reasons under the guise of religious freedom\u201d and that he applauded the OFCCP\u2019s action to change the rule.Committee ranking member Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said in a statement that the Biden administration\u2019s action was a \u201cdirect attack on every employer who dares to follow their faith.\u201dThe Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-990783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}