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.
If the CEO wants to hire their sibling into a non-executive position, are we required to still post the position?
Yes, if you are a federal contractor.
I understand that we have obligations to notify staffing agencies about our federal contractor status, but what does that notification really ask? Are we putting them on alert that they need to send us diverse candidate pools, are we notifying them that they may have obligations as a sub-contractor or are we just satisfying a regulation? I send these letters out annually and don’t really see the benefit other than we are meeting our compliance requirement. Can someone please explain the rule.
The purpose behind the rule is to ensure that the staffing agencies are keeping you compliant. As your sub-contractor, they need to be conducting outreach according to the federal contractor regulations. The notice itself is not the most critical issue. As a federal contractor, it is your obligation to ensure that the staffing agency is following the regulations, as though you were conducting the outreach for yourself.
We have 2 Talent Network Portals-one dedicated to general interest and the other for the Contract Community. That said, we recently added the Employee Polygraph Protection Act and Dept of Labor FMLA poster to our General Talent Community, however, those individuals may or may not be considered internet applicants, since they may or may not apply to an actual position within our career site. We do actually include those 2 poster links and the EEO is the Law, Supplement, and Policy Statement in a link at the bottom of the career page. My first question, is should we leave all poster links in the general Talent Network portal, given that many may or may not ever become applicants. My second question is, that I haven’t added the Employee Polygraph or the FMLA poster links to the Contractor Talent Network Portal and am concerned that it too would cause some issues, 1) that they are not necessarily applicants at that point and 2) the Co-employment optics of it. Are there best practices on posters within the Talent Network portals? 2) Should I go ahead and remove all poster links in BOTH Talent Network Portals? 3) Do I have all poster links outside of our EEO policy included in BOTH Talent Portals? I haven’t seen any other Federal Contractors include these poster links within their Talent Networks/Talent Communities, but wanted to get some guidance on how best I should proceed with this. Again, I want to ensure that I’m in compliance, but at the same time not putting us at risk by confusing the “applicant” component as well as the “contractor” component.
Federal contractors are required to include in “all solicitations or advertisements for employment that all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.” This is more commonly known as the EEO tagline and you can satisfy this requirement by including the tagline in your job postings. Federal contractors are also required to post the “EEO is the Law” poster and supplement in a prominent place “where it...
Hello,
We are in the process of re-surveying our employees and using the Self Identify form as required. However, because the form is two pages, we are getting forms back with only page one and NOT page two. Most likely because they self identify with not having a disability so no request for an accommodation was made. Is this acceptable to only have page one on file? Or should we go back and require each person submit page two? I ask because the form is voluntary, we can prove that they were given both pages, and that they then choose to only provide page one. Please advise.
Thank you!
Hi Lauren, You're right, the form is voluntary, but in the event of an audit, it may be difficult to show compliance if many of the forms are incomplete. Where possible, the best practice is to obtain the second page to ensure the company can show evidence of that it is fulfilling its obligations. Good question!
We have a construction project site that has project labor agreements, with various unions, for our construction craft labor needs. Based on the project size we do fall under VEVRAA & Sec. 503, however our PLA requires we staff through the union hiring halls. My question is this;
If a person walks in off the street and wants to apply for a craft job at the project site can we explain we staff through union hiring halls and provide them information on how they can contact these unions? Also, should we provide these “walk in’s” with “An Invitation to Self-identify” form and track their info on an “Off the Street” applicant log?
The regulations require the construction contractor to "maintain a current file of the names, addresses and telephone numbers of each minority and female off-the-street applicant and minority and female referral from a union, a recruitment source or community orgnaization and of what action was taken with respect to each individual. If such individual was sent to the union hiring hall for referral and was not referred back to the Contractor by the union or, if referred, not employed by the...
I would like to know if the OFCCP CO can request an employee (representing management) to come to their office for an interview? Do they have this authority?
The OFCCP can make this request. There is nothing in the regulations that prohibits such a request. It is important to understand what the regulations require so that a contractor can draw a clear line between its obligations and what is simply a request. The regulations at Sec. 60-1.20 Compliance evaluations (ii) state that an on-site review is "conducted at the contractor's establishment" and "will involve an examination of the contractor's personnel and employment policies, inspection and copying of documents...
I would like to know if an employer has any control over releasing information (name and contact information) for management employees no longer with the company. Also, can the employer ask for a copy of the interview note(s), or have a company representative present during the interview?
This is a very good question and a very difficult area to navigate successfully. According to the regulations: Sec. 60-1.20 Compliance evaluations. (ii) An on-site review, conducted at the contractor's establishment to investigate unresolved problem areas identified in the AAP and supporting documentation during the desk audit, to verify that the contractor has implemented the AAP and has complied with those regulatory obligations not required to be included in the AAP, and to examine potential instances or issues of discrimination....
Last year was the first year we were required to develop an AAP and the dates we published were Jan 1, 2017 – Dec 31, 2017. It is my understanding that the analysis of data should be based on a snapshot of a specific date. Does that date have to fall within that year? Or is it the last day of the year and if it’s the last day of 12/31/17, what date am I required to publish the 2018 AAP with the data analysis?
Thank you.
The Hires, Applicants, Promotions, and Terminations should be dated beginning (and including) the full year. In your case January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017. The employee snapshot should be dated December 31, 2017. Best practice in this case is to prepare the plan as soon as reasonably possible after the first of the year. The regulations state that the AAPs must be updated annually. If audited, the company will be required to submit the plan and accompanying data within...
My organization is an FQHC (Federally Qualified Health Center). Are we required to comply with OFCCP?
Jurisdiction is often tricky both for contractors and the agency. Being an FQHC doesn’t necessarily make a company required to comply with the laws enforced by OFCCP, but it doesn’t mean that the company is not a federal contractor either. Likely, a little more research needs to be done based on the facts of your situation.
We are a federal government contractor and there are times we engage staffing companies to recruit on our behalf. When asking a 3rd party agency to recruit for an open requisition exclusively, which also means we are NOT actively recruiting for roles we pass to them. When we hire the candidate they presented, what do we need to do from a reporting standpoint?
They were given the responsibility to recruit and fill the requirement.
No company recruiter working on those requirements.
Hiring decision made on their candidate.
We hire and onboard that candidate.
What is our responsibility from a compliance reporting standpoint?
Thank you.
Linda
Hi Linda, Using a third party staffing agency does not exempt a company from the regulations enforced by OFCCP (Sec. 60-3.10). Thus, all the requirements under the regulations still apply, such as posting, listing, outreach, compliant selection procedures, and adverse impact analyses. The text of the regulation is below. Sec. 60-3.10 Employment agencies and employment services. A. Where selection procedures are devised by agency. An employment agency, including private employment agencies and State employment agencies, which agrees to a request...
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