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.
I am interested in knowing what guidelines we should be following in posting contingent/future positions. For example, we are often asked to post multiple positions for a proposal effort which we may or may not be awarded – how should that be communicated in the job description/posting, and are there any other considerations in regard to remaining compliant? We are a federal contractor. In the past, we have used, “in anticipation of contract award”, or something similar. Is this sufficient? Our positions automatically post to the appropriate ESDSs. Thank you very much!
I hope I'm understanding your issue. It sounds like the situation is, the company is posting a position based on a bid. If the bid is awarded, then the hire is expected to be made and if the award is not won, then there will be no hire. There are no guidelines regarding this specific situation in the laws and regulations enforced by OFCCP. There is no specific language required for contingent positions. Of course, all of the posting and...
Does Local Job Network satisfy 1 of the 3 required “linkage agreements” required by OFCCP for compliance?
OFCCP may specify in a conciliation agreement that a contractor enter into a linkage agreement with certain organizations. However, outside of a conciliation agreement, there is no OFCCP requirement to have formal linkage agreements with organizations. The requirement under E.O. 11246, VEVRAA, and Section 503 is to conduct outreach to community-based organizations that can help you recruit and hire minorities, women, IWDs, and veterans. There is no requirement as to the number of organizations a contractor should reach out to,...
We’ve acquired a smaller company and will be retaining some of their employees. In an older post, it is stated that there is little guidance on how to handle these situations yet most companies choose to treat acquired employees as new hires. However, in our HRIS they will retain their seniority dates from prior to the acquisition.
Is it still best to categorize them as new hires or would it be better to simply list them in the employee population? Would the latter cause a disconnect with our previous plan year, since these employee’s would ‘magically’ appear in the population? Could it be simply noted that they are acquired?
Additionally, are we responsible for collecting and including the acquired organization’s applicant data for our AAP?
In checking with OFCCP, there doesn’t seem to be a prescribed method to handle this. Treating them as hires, transfers, or simply listing them, are all acceptable. The important thing is that the contractor should be able to explain the data and what happened. Each method presents its own challenges as you already stated. You are correct that simply listing them would not align with the employees from your previous plan year, but that is explainable. Treating them as hires...
I’m looking for guidance on a delicate subject: confidential searches. For Sr Management and Executive level roles I know we’re okay to not post them, but what are the recommendations for lower level confidential searches (i.e. there is an incumbent in the role)? We address the incumbent’s performance issues as an employer but ultimately know we’ll need to replace them and don’t want to advertise for obvious reasons.
Thoughts?
OFCCP does not have specific guidance on confidential searches. Absent that, OFCCP will look at it the same way as any other job you are required to post. You still have an obligation to post it. You may have a search firm post it for you to the local ESDS and you will need to provide proof of that posting as well as a record, such as an email exchange with the search firm and the two job descriptions, showing...
We are a federal contractor. What is a common, compliant way of posting a job that has flexibility to hire at a manager or director level depending on experience?
I would typically post at the higher level but notate in the job requirements that the position can be hired as a manager or director depending on the skills and experience.
Thoughts?
There is no prescribed way for posting the job you described above. However, in checking with OFCCP, what you would want to make sure of if you post the jobs together and eventually hire at the higher or lower level depending on skills and experience, is that you do not inadvertently open the door for placement discrimination. This can happen if you end up with a situation where you have (a) intentional or unintentional steering/placement of female applicants (or minority...
We are a Federal Prime contractor & Sub-Contractor who places IT employees on Federal and State contracted projects. These are our employees working on a state or federal work site. Sometimes we must reach out to a staffing company to fill specialized positions when our sourcing/postings are not producing qualified candidates. I’ve been told previously that being a Federal Contractor, any staffing company or sub-contractor we use, whether for a Federal or State position, must be compliant with OFCCP guidelines when recruiting and also receive the required “our company is a federal contractor” notice.
Two questions:
1. If our state position pays our company with state funds, must our staffing/sub-contractor company follow OFCCP guidelines and also receive the required notice?
2. If so, do we need to require them to send recruiting documentation or just have it available in case of an audit?
Thank you.
Hi Paige, This one is a little complicated to answer without knowing the facts I’m more detail. However, I hope The info below is helpful as a guide. 1. If the individual is an employee of a company that is a federal Contractor or subcontractor, then the company must follow the OFCCP regulations, including ensuring that the proper clauses are a part of the subcontracts. When it is unclear due to the facts whether this language is required, it may...
We hire many student interns for our pipeline recruiting. They come back each summer until they graduate. They are kept on the payroll and come back each summer, some work on projects throughout the year. When we want to hire them permanently, do we need to create a posting for them to apply? It seems this would be discouraging for others who see this listing since we know we want to hire them. In addition, they initially competed for the intern position in the beginning and we have been developing them for several years. Currently we are posting these jobs, however it is creating extra work and we feel it is misleading to external candidates and to our internal employees when we already know who we want to put in the position, since we have invested a lot of time and money on these students throughout the years.
No, you do not need to post those jobs. The posting requirement only applies when a company is hiring from the external pool. Since the interns are staying on the payroll and thus employees of the company, it appears that they would be undergoing a promotion or a transfer (from PT to FT perhaps). Positions filled internally do not need to be posted for external pools.
Hello-
We are re-surveying our workforce using the voluntary self-identification of disability form. We are looking to create our own electronic version of the form to more easily survey our employees. We have the requirements in regards to font, size, OMB number, expiration date, etc. However, it says the forms contents must not be altered.
My question is, is it acceptable to have the whole form on one page on our electronic survey? Or must we have it on two pages like the actual paper version is? (i.e. the reasonable accommodation notice is on the second page)
Thanks in advance!
Megan
It should be acceptable to have the survey on one page. OFCCP's primary interest is in ensuring that the entire contents of the survey is maintained. The fact that it is two pages in a printed form is a function of the fonts used, the amount of content included, and so on rather than a function of the desire to have a two-page form. If you want to be entirely safe, you could include the headers above the section of...
Is there an available state workforce agency listed that participates in providing participants in the Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) or General Relief Opportunity for Work (WORK) Program? We are being asked to be willing to consider GAIN/GROW participants for future employment openings, if they meet the minimum qualifications for that opening. I did not see these programs listed in the Local Job Network. If it’s possible to add, I would like to have Linkage Agents set up to ensure that our positions are sent and reported.
We are pleased to let you know that LocalJobNetwork.com does have partners in Los Angeles County who work with the GAIN/GROW programs in the area. We have a contact at the GAIN/GROW Program Desk, as well as a general contact at the Department of Public Social Services. To reach out to these contacts, please login to your LocalJobNetwork.com account and you will be able to find them in our Outreach Management System by using the search words "Department of Public...
I am involved with a company that had an OFCCP complaint filed against them by a former HR employee. The employee had been fired for using her access to other employees’ salaries to seek a raise for herself. She accessed this information without requesting any permission from either the individual employees whose information she accessed and without the approval of her superiors. The company has been informed that they were within their rights to fire the employee due to the exception for discharging HR employees (or payroll EEs) who have access other employees’ salaries and use that access without permission or approval.
However, now the former employee has filed a retaliation complaint with the OFCCP, alleging that the company’s stated reason for firing her was just a cover and she was actually fired for discussing her pay. Her complaint has no reference to pay discrimination based on race, sex, or veteran status. Is this a valid cause of action that the OFCCP would address or provide relief for?
Thank you.
It is unusual for OFCCP to receive or investigate individual complaints. Most OFCCP actions are an outgrowth of an affirmative action compliance review rather than an individual complaint. With that said, OFCCP does have the right to investigate complaints regarding violations of its regulations, and applicants and employees do have certain protections regarding the discussion of pay under the agency's revisions to the Executive Order 11246 regulations. These revisions are an outgrowth of Executive Order 13665, which is titled "Non-Retaliation...
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