Ask the Experts is an exclusive online forum provided by Circa. Federal contractors and subcontractors are invited to submit questions to industry experts related to OFCCP compliance, affirmative action planning, and equal employment opportunity.
We use EEO Class for our AAP placement goals but would like to create additional groups to perform a better pay analysis. If we do this, do we need to also use the pay groupings for our placement goals or can we keep using EEO Class?
You may keep using EEO Class. OFCCP recognizes that Pay Analysis Groups (PAGs) -- the groups formed for the purpose of analyzing compensation -- may be very different from the Job Groups (i.e. EEO Class) formed for the purpose of analyzing transactional data and setting placement goals.
We’re considering different Data Management techniques to handle high volume requisitions (i.e. adding in a questioner, only reviewing the first 50 resumes etc.) From a documentation perspective, what do we need to keep record of for an audit? From your perspective, what are best practices when implementing these techniques?
If we use these technique of only reviewing the first 50 resumes but end up needing to look at more. Is that something we’d need to keep record of? Would this need to be consistent across all jobs with the same title or could it vary based on recruiter/bandwidth.
Each requisition can have its own data management technique, and the method for each must be recorded. The data management technique selected must be facially neutral, should be representative of the entire sample, and should not adversely impact any particular group. If you apply one technique, and more resumes are needed, you can apply the same or a different technique to manage the remaining applicants, so long as it is also facially neutral, representative of the entire sample, and doesn't...
Hello. We know there are exceptions in the I-9 process and with eVerify during COVID-19 safer-at-home times.
When this has ended, we know we can complete I-9’s for future remote new hires using Notaries local to them, our question is on the eVerify for them… How can our eVerify Admins complete without witnessing the ID presented at time of I-9 completion, only to the Notary. Thank you in advance!
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorized temporary flexibility in complying with requirements related to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, due to COVID-19. Guidance has been provided on how employers with remote employees may obtain, remotely inspect, and retain copies of the identity and employment eligibility documents their employees provide to complete Section 2 of Form I-9. Employers are asked to monitor the DHS and ICE websites for additional updates about when the...
According to my research, federal contractors and subcontractors are required to have a WRITTEN Affirmative Action Plan on file if they are receiving in excess of $50,000 in contracts (or subcontracts) annually and this written plan must be provided to OFCCP within 30 days of request.
Are nonprofit organizations (grantees) who are receiving in excess of $50,000 in federal GRANTS (either directly or indirectly) annually also required to have a WRITTEN Affirmative Action Plan? In other words, are they considered to be federal contractors or subcontractors by way of receiving federal grant funds?
I suspect my answer will be happy news: NO, grantees are NOT covered by any OFCCP regulations, including those having to do with written Affirmative Action Programs. You might want to read the terms of your grant carefully to make sure that the grantor has not included in the terms of the grant some "EEO and AA" requirements, such as filing an EEO-1 Report, compliance with Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and...
For Disposition Codes, what is an OFCCP compliant way to DQ a candidate based off of an interview going poorly. Poorly can be defined as: unprofessional, did not present well?
A second part to this question: If excellent communication skills (Written and verbal) are required for a role due to the set of responsibilities, and a candidate’s grammar and speech is not strong, what is an OFCCP compliant disposition code to represent this?
Unfortunately, there is not a simple answer to this question. Dispositioning well is both important and difficult. Objective codes are typically best and should be used when possible. Subjective codes should be defined as best as the company is able and that definition should be used consistently among the relevant staff. For example, how do hiring authorities within the company define "excellent communication skills" or "strong" speech or grammar? Oftentimes, the outliers are easier to define, but those close are...
We are a contractor for the DoD which has very specific guidelines regarding high risk countries. As an employer we would like to ask our applicants about dual citizenship on our application to identify applicants with citizenship from these countries.
Can you please advise?
Hello, Liz - I wish you had provided a little more information, but I will make some assumptions and respond accordingly. If my assumptions are incorrect or my answer not understood, would you please re-post with a few more details. First, I'm going to assume that the Department of Defense is not asking its contractors to do anything illegal and is sufficiently accountable for its own standards that it is providing "requirements" rather than mere "guidelines". Second, I really don't...
Could you direct me on a verbiage question we are having?
Here is our EEO line at the end of our job postings that we are currently using:
Tris Pharma, Inc. offers a highly competitive compensation and benefits package. To build and enhance our diverse workforce, we encourage applications from individuals with disabilities, minorities, veterans, women, etc. Tris Pharma, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
We want to include gender identity and sexual orientation but I can not get it to read well. Could you suggest how to best word?
Thank you.
One option is to add "LGBTQ" to the list. It stands for lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer, and will be recognizable by people who identify as any of them.
Hello! We are a multi-state employer who has federal and state contracts. We have historically always had a person in each location designated as the local affirmative action officer. We are now looking to have someone be the AA officer who does not sit in that physical location. Is that acceptable or does the local AA officer need to sit in the office? And are there any training requirements of these local AA officers? And can there be more than one in a location? Thanks!
There are no regulations that dictate the location of the affirmative action officer, nor their training requirements. But because the regulations are fairly complex, appropriate training will benefit your organization. The American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity (AAAED) has a good certificate program: https://www.aaaed.org/aaaed/Training.asp.
We would like to ensure that the outside recruiting firms we utilize are being OFCCP compliant–and also have them understand they will need to agree to provide sourcing/search information if we are audited.
Is there any suggested wording that we can add to our agreements with these firms?
(Note: I understand that you cannot provide legal advice; I am only asking for suggested wording that we would then vet with our attorneys).
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
There are two important considerations with respect to working with your third party staffing agency partners. First, make you sure you include in your staffing agency contracts an equal opportunity clause and make them aware you are a federal contractor. All federal contractors are required under all three regulations, as a condition of their federal contract, to include the EO clause in all contracts, subcontracts, and purchase orders. Federal contractors shall make the clause a part of the contract by...
We’re on the audit list this year but we haven’t received our audit letter yet. Does anyone know who I can contact to find out if it was sent out or not?
If you are referring to the 2019 CSAL Supplement Scheduling List, which consists of 500 federal contractor establishments scheduled for VEVRAA Focused Reviews, OFCCP Director Craig Leen announced in his opening remarks at the 2020 NILG Conference that the agency will soon start sending out scheduling letters within the next two weeks. So, federal contractors should expect to receive these letters soon.
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