On August 21, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published a final rule in the Federal Register that eliminates the requirement for federal contractors to invite applicants and employees to self-identify as individuals with disabilities, retires the related Form CC-305, and rescinds the 7 percent disability utilization goal and its associated data collection and analysis requirements. Why? OFCCP says the old self-identification framework conflicts with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The new rule takes effect September 21, 2026. Additionally, an amendment removing 41 CFR Part 60-30 (the former Executive Order 11246 administrative-proceeding regulations, now folded directly into the Section 503 regulations) takes effect 120 days after publication.
Barring congressional action or a court-issued injunction, contractors should not make changes to applicant tracking systems, HR platforms, or Form CC-305 processes before the September 21, 2026 effective date, since current regulations still require this data collection until that date arrives. Some possibility of a legislative or judicial response remains, and premature changes could create their own compliance gaps.
Section 503 itself is not disappearing. Contractors with 50 or more employees and a federal contract or subcontract of $50,000 or more must continue to maintain a written affirmative action program (AAP). The rule leaves in place Section 503’s core nondiscrimination protections, reasonable accommodation obligations, and outreach and recruitment requirements. What changes is how contractors demonstrate and measure their affirmative action efforts: quantitative, disability-status-driven metrics give way to a compliance model built on job-description review, accessible hiring systems, and structured outreach that does not depend on knowing which individuals have disabilities.
Contractors that also have obligations under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) should note that veteran self-identification, data collection, and hiring-benchmark requirements are unaffected by this rule. While the new rule makes a few administrative changes to VEVRAA obligations (e.g., removing cross-references to the now-defunct Executive Order 11246 framework and folding the shared administrative enforcement procedures directly into VEVRAA’s own regulations), the VEVRAA regulatory framework is largely unchanged except for an increase in the jurisdictional coverage threshold from $150,000 to $200,000 to reflect a routine inflation adjustment.
Link to What Federal Contractors Should Do Now What Federal Contractors Should Do Now
Contractors should use the period before September 21, 2026 to inventory where disability self-identification is embedded in their compliance infrastructure, including applicant tracking systems, onboarding workflows, AAP templates, and any recurring five-year self-identification reminders to current employees, and to prepare updates without implementing them prematurely. Contractors should also begin identifying non-quantitative measures, such as accessibility reviews of hiring platforms and job-description barrier analyses, that can substitute for utilization data when assessing the effectiveness of outreach and recruitment efforts going forward.
Link to Comprehensive Analysis Comprehensive Analysis
Link to Background: The 2013 Rule and What It Required Background: The 2013 Rule and What It Required
OFCCP enforces Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits covered federal contractors from disability discrimination and requires certain contractors to take affirmative action to employ and advance qualified individuals with disabilities. In 2013, OFCCP substantially revised the Section 503 regulations to add a 7 percent utilization goal for individuals with disabilities in each job group, an annual utilization analysis measuring actual representation against that goal, a requirement that contractors invite applicants (pre-offer) and employees (every five years) to self-identify using Form CC-305, and related data collection and recordkeeping obligations.
Link to The Rulemaking Process and OFCCP’s Legal Rationale The Rulemaking Process and OFCCP’s Legal Rationale
OFCCP proposed these changes in a July 1, 2025 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) (90 FR 28494), citing Executive Order 14173 (revoking Executive Order 11246) and Executive Order 14219 (directing rescission of regulations lacking clear statutory authority). After sorting through 651 comment submissions from a wide range of stakeholders, OFCCP largely stuck with its proposed changes, adding a clarification on measuring affirmative action effectiveness and a few technical corrections—including updating the basic coverage threshold from $15,000 to $20,000 to reflect an October 2025 inflation adjustment.
Link to OFCCP’s Legal Rationale: The ADA Conflict OFCCP’s Legal Rationale: The ADA Conflict
So why is OFCCP doing this? OFCCP’s central rationale is that the disability self-identification requirement is inconsistent with the ADA. The ADA generally prohibits pre-offer disability inquiries of applicants outright, and only allows post-employment inquiries when they’re job-related and consistent with business necessity. OFCCP concluded that requiring contractors to “invite” disclosure is, in substance, an employer-initiated inquiry regardless of the “voluntary” label, because the ADA regulates the employer’s act of asking, not the individual’s choice whether to respond. OFCCP also had to deal with an inconvenient precedent: the D.C. Circuit’s 2014 decision in Associated Builders & Contractors v. Shiu, 773 F.3d 257 (D.C. Cir. 2014) (opinion), which upheld the prior rule. OFCCP got around it by pointing out that Shiu relied on the old Chevron deference framework, which the Supreme Court overruled in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024) (opinion). Under Loper Bright‘s “best reading” standard, OFCCP concluded that older EEOC guidance supporting disability inquiries no longer holds up and isn’t entitled to deference.
OFCCP separately concluded the utilization goal is unworkable without the disability-status data generated by the rescinded inquiry and the job groups formerly tied to the revoked Executive Order 11246, and noted that despite an express quota prohibition, contractors may feel practical pressure to treat the goal as a quota.
Link to What Is Rescinded What Is Rescinded
The final rule rescinds the following requirements, generally effective September 21, 2026:
- the disability self-identification requirement at 41 CFR 60-741.42 (pre-offer and recurring five-year employee invitations) and Form CC-305;
- the 7 percent utilization goal and annual utilization analysis at 41 CFR 60-741.45.
On a delayed, 120-day effective date, the rule also rescinds 41 CFR Part 60-30 (the former Executive Order 11246 administrative-proceeding regulations), relocating those enforcement procedures directly into the Section 503 regulations with no substantive change to OFCCP’s enforcement authority.
Link to What Survives What Survives
The final rule does not eliminate Section 503 affirmative action obligations. Contractors with 50 or more employees and a contract of $50,000 or more must continue to maintain a written AAP, and the nondiscrimination, reasonable accommodation, outreach, and complaint-procedure requirements remain. Contractors must still annually evaluate outreach effectiveness but may now do so using non-quantitative measures such as barrier analysis of job descriptions and physical/mental requirements, structured partnerships with disability employment organizations, accessibility review of hiring platforms, and proactive communication about requesting accommodations. If a contractor learns of a disability without asking, for example through an unsolicited disclosure or accommodation request, it may still take affirmative action consistent with Section 503.
Link to The Open Question: Voluntary Data Collection Going Forward The Open Question: Voluntary Data Collection Going Forward
OFCCP will no longer require disability-status inquiries but has stated the rule does not prohibit contractors from continuing them where consistent with the ADA’s pre-offer ban and post-employment business-necessity standard. Contractors that have embedded disability self-identification into broader workforce analytics, recruiting technology, or DEI programs independent of Section 503 compliance should evaluate that practice specifically against those ADA standards, rather than assuming Section 503 compliance alone justifies it going forward.
Link to Practical Considerations for Contractors Practical Considerations for Contractors
Contractors should begin a structured review now, while continuing to comply with existing requirements until the effective dates arrive.
- Inventory disability self-identification across applicant tracking systems, onboarding, and employee surveys, and prepare (without yet implementing) removal of Form CC-305 and related inquiries;
- Update AAP templates and outreach-effectiveness methodologies to remove reliance on the utilization goal and disability-status data, substituting the non-quantitative measures described above;
- Preserve VEVRAA veteran self-identification, data collection, and hiring-benchmark processes, which are unaffected;
- Evaluate any voluntary, non-Section-503-driven disability data collection against the ADA’s independent standards; and
- Monitor for congressional or judicial challenges before making operational changes, coordinating updates with the September 21, 2026 and 120-day effective dates.
Contractors should resist the urge to treat this rule as an elimination of Section 503 obligations. The core affirmative action, nondiscrimination, and accommodation requirements remain fully in force, and the practical work ahead lies in rebuilding a compliance story around outreach and accessibility rather than disability-status data. Contractors that rely on disability self-identification data for purposes beyond Section 503 compliance, such as broader workforce analytics or diversity reporting, should now revisit those practices, since any such collection must now stand on its own independent justification under the ADA rather than on Section 503 compliance alone.
If you have questions about how to proceed given these changes, please contact Michael Schrier, Nora Evans, or your Husch Blackwell attorney.
This article provides general legal information. It does not constitute legal advice to the reader
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apply to their own circumstances.