What is the recommendation for implementation of OFCCP DIR 2008-02?:

FIELD ENFORCEMENT GUIDANCE: Compliance Officers should adhere to the following principles when evaluating the use of race and ethnicity categories in the AAPs prepared by federal contractors in accordance with the Executive Order, as amended:

A.Contractor data tracking responsibilities remain the same.(4) Accordingly, self–identification will remain the preferred method for compiling information about the sex, race or ethnicity of applicants and employees. A contractor’s invitation to self–identify race or ethnicity should state that the submission of such information is voluntary. However, contractors may use post–employment records or visual observation when an individual declines to self–identify his or her race or ethnicity.(5)

Specifically, this statement:

However, contractors may use post–employment records or visual observation when an individual declines to self–identify his or her race or ethnicity.(5)

We do want to better understand how applicants are progressing through our process and where they are dropping off. Our ATS does allow us to update race/gender. When someone has opted for “I choose not to disclose” on the electronic application, we can update race/gender in the ATS, and there is an audit trail showing that we did so. This would be valuable for us from a data/analytics perspective, so we can target where we may be losing candidates of various protected statuses and target our efforts accordingly. But is this a good practice? Is it better to leave candidates in an unknown race/gender than to use visual observation to update this information?

1 Answer