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.
Could you please link to the form that is most updated for Veterans to self-identify post-offer?
Also, the version of the form we have provides an option for a non-protected veteran to identify. I am receiving information that we should not be identifying those who are veterans but are non-protected. Is this accurate?
Our concern specifically is if we should be asking this question:
I am NOT a protected veteran. (I served in the military but do not fall into any veteran categories listed above)
***categories above are:
Disabled veteran
Recently separated veteran
Active wartime or campaign badge veteran
Armed forces service medal veteran
Thank you!
Unlike Section 503 which prescribes a specific OMB form for the voluntary survey, the VEVRAA regulation does not prescribe a form. Rather, it provided sample language for the invitation to self-identify, which you can find under Appendix B of the VEVRAA regulations. Contractors are free to use alternative language. While this language includes the option to select “I am NOT a protected veteran,” by including in parentheses “I served in the military but do not fall into any veteran categories...
We recently had a request from a certain minority group to provide the number of employees we employ of a certain ethnic background in certain positions with in our organization.
I understand that we are required to make available for inspection the AAPs for IWDs and Protected Vets for applicants and employees? I don’t see anywhere in the regulations that says it is for the public or to disclose ethnicity of a certain job group?
Can you give us some guidance or best practice?
It is accurate that if you are covered by the affirmative action law for individuals with disabilities, you must make all parts of that AAP except the data components available for review to applicants or employees. It is also accurate that if you are covered by the affirmative action law for protected veterans, you must make all parts of that AAP except the data components available for review to applicants and employees. You are not required to provide copies of...
Hello,
We are sharing an internal hire link with job seekers requesting to apply for a Driver position which we hire for often, but do not currently have available. As it is not an active opening, it is not posted to our website, the state bank, or sent in our outreach efforts – Rather it is a repository for Driver candidates for future. Is this compliant? Is there a best practice around this type of situation we should be doing instead?
Thank you!
From a purely mandatory job listing compliance standpoint, there is no need to list the job with the ESDS now and this is not an issue as long as the job is listed with the ESDS and outreach is undertaken once the actual vacancy occurs. That being said, there are other considerations as far as how this practice expands your applicant pool, what constitutes an Internet applicant and an expression of interest, the recordkeeping requirements for internal resume database searches,...
Hello,
Are we required to post our contingent positions with the local ESDS? We often bid on work in states where we do not currently have ESDS accounts or employees currently working. Do we need to post in those states for VEVRAA compliance even though we may not win the work and fill the position?
Thank you!
§60-300.5 Section 2 of the Equal opportunity clause, which sets forth the mandatory job listing obligation for federal contractors states that “The contractor agrees to immediately list all employment openings which exist at the time of the execution of this contract and those which occur during the performance of this contract, including those not generated by this contract and including those occurring at an establishment of the contractor other than the one where the contract is being performed, but excluding...
Hello,
In follow up to the Q&A on “Tracking of ‘Pipeline’ Candidates” answered by Ms. Horvitz, I’d like to inquire whether the ‘manual adds’ our team keys in need to be applied to an active opening, or if an internal hire link could be utilized for this purpose. We often have employee referrals and need a way to get them into our ATS. They are not applying for a specific opening, rather being ‘pipelined’ for a potential future opening. If there is anything else we are not considering, please do let us know.
Thank you!
The OFCCP's record keeping regulations allow you to maintain a database for internal use. To get the referrals into the system using an internal hire link is permissible. OFCCP's regulations (41 CFR Section 60-1.12) tell you that for purposes of record-keeping with respect to internal resume databases, the contractor must maintain a record of each resume added to the database, a record of the date each resume was added to the database, the position for which each search of the...
We are trying to use a module in our applicant tracking system to solicit and collect post-offer responses (race/gender/vets/disability). The form is tied to the person’s record. If someone were to leave and then be rehired, that means the form that is given to them will retain their responses from the first time they were hired. They would have the ability to change the response though, and must re-acknowledge it.
Is it ok to “reuse” the form like this, or do the regulation require that we provide them with a blank form?
The simple answer here is that you should be able to reuse the form in the way you've described. The "surveying" obligation under the federal affirmative action regulations is to provide applicants and employees an opportunity to self-identify their race/ethnicity, sex, protected veteran status, and disability status. Applicants and employees are not required under the regulations to provide this information, and employers are generally not allowed to force applicants and employees to provide this information. In the situation described above,...
Hello, we often find that applicants for a job posting are qualified for another posting as well. If the candidate is not selected for a the position to which they applied, and if we are interested in interviewing him or her for another position, we will copy or move their application to the other position. In reading through past “Ask the Experts” postings I read a response indicating that “when a company representative transfers applicants to other requisitions, it can lead to problems in an OFCCP audit.” Can you expand on what problems it can lead to and if the only alternative is to reach out to the applicant and ask them if they are interested in applying for the other position? Thank you for your expert opinions!
Moving applicants to other postings or requisitions (or inviting specific applicants to do so) impacts a company's applicant pool. Broadly speaking, when hiring by job title or requisition, the appropriate hiring analysis is conducted by that specific job title/requisition. Only those for that job competed against each other for that job. When a company causes an applicant to be considered for another job, then, again, broadly speaking, those two job title pools become combined, leading to a larger pool. The...
I understand that the OFCCP has not specified the language contractors must use when soliciting race and gender information, but employers must notify employees and applicants that providing the information is voluntary, refusal to provide it will not subject them to negative employment consequences and that the information will be kept separate from their applicant/employee file. Can someone point me to the specific section of the regulations that addresses this requirement.
The Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs (OFCCP) requires federal contractors to “identify the gender, race, and ethnicity of each employee” (41 CFR 60-1.12(c)). To clarify the regulations, OFCCP developed a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) on the topic: What is the correct procedure for a contractor to obtain the ethnic information of its employees and applicants? OFCCP regulations 41 CFR 60-1.12(c) indicate that for any personnel or employment record a contractor maintains, it must be able to identify the gender,...
We provide the disability self-identification form to all new hires via our HRIS. So far, every new employee has completed it – whether they answered yes, no or prefer not to answer. In the future, if someone does not complete it, do we need to keep following up with them until they complete it? Or is it enough that we can show we asked them to complete it and they declined?
Further, when we send the communication to resurvey every 5 years, can I assume we do not need to collect a new form from each employee? We are just giving them the option to complete a new one if they wish?
Hi Jennifer, As you are probably aware, the regulations emphasize that contractors may not compel or coerce individuals to self-identify, and that contractors must keep all self-identification information confidential. However, the regulations are silent on whether a company can require a self-identification form to be returned. The language on the required form written by OFCCP reads, "Completing this form is voluntary, but we hope that you will choose to fill it out." With that language on the form, it appears...
Equal Opportunity Employer. Will that work for a tagline?
I covered some of this in a previous answer to a question regarding advertising taglines, and I'm going to use some of that response below. However, we'll cover some of your specific language first. It would be acceptable to include the phrases "Employment will Require Successful Completion of a Background Check" and "Drug Free Workplace." The other two items in your language above are more problematic. Your suggested language above includes a line saying "Equal Opportunity for Disabled Veterans, Recently...
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