Federal contractors are prohibited from employment discrimination and are required to take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity regardless of personal attributes. Contractors must develop affirmative action plans, recruit diverse applicants, keep detailed employment records, and comply with regulations regarding hiring, compensation, and other personnel activities. Recordkeeping is critical and contractors must retain employment records for one to two years depending on company size and contract value. Small contractors planning to do business with the federal government should perform self-audits to ensure compliance with affirmative action requirements.

1. Covered federal supply and service contractors are prohibited from engaging in employment discrimination and are required to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants (including internet applicants) and employees are treated without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. All personnel activities are covered by these requirements, including but not limited to:<br />Hiring<br />Rates of pay or other compensation<br />Fringe benefits<br />Promotions<br />Upgrades<br />Recruitment<br />Training<br />Transfers<br />Layoffs<br />Terminations<br />Returns from layoff and<br />Demotions<br />Depending on the size of the supply and service contractor and the type of relationship it has with the Federal Government, certain covered supply and service contractors may have additional responsibilities such as:<br />Developing and maintaining a written Executive Order 11246 Affirmative Action Plan (“Office” Affirmative Action Plan) – “Field staff” would fall under the Construction 16 steps which you can find in the Technical Assistance Guide for Federal Construction Contractors listed on the OFCCP’s website.<br />Developing and maintaining a Section 503 Affirmative Action Plan (Disabilities)<br />Developing and maintaining a written VEVRRA Affirmative Action Plan (Veterans)<br />Completing and submitting the annual EEO-1 report<br />Completing and submitting the annual Vets 100 or Vets 100A report<br />Usually an AAP for Executive Order 11246 is prepared and a separate AAP is prepared for Disabilities/Veterans.<br />Contractors and subcontractors are required to:<br />Develop an equal employment opportunity policy statement<br />Review their personnel processes<br />Conduct a review of physical and mental job qualifications<br />Make reasonable accommodations 0to the known physical and mental limitations of otherwise qualified individuals or veterans with disabilities<br />Develop and implement procedures to prevent harassment<br />Disseminate EEO policy externally and perform outreach and positive recruitment<br />Disseminate EEO policy internally<br />Design and implement and audit and reporting system<br />Designate a management official to direct and assume the responsibility for ensuring the implementation of their affirmative action program<br />Train their personnel to ensure that EEO and affirmative action program commitments are implemented<br />Recruitment<br />When recruiting all positions need to be listed with the Department of Labor or local workforce agency (if you are recruiting for national positions, each must be completed in each state where there is an opening). <br />Keep a record of all postings and the actual job advertisement as you will need to include this information into your company’s affirmative action plan. As part of your company’s affirmative action plan you should also transpose the EEO information from your company’s applicant tracking system into the analysis of the annual affirmative action plan. <br />Be sure to note all advertisements not only on the DOL/local workforce website, but all job postings with “An Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V” This should also be tagged somewhere on your company’s website as well as having a location for applicants to apply for opportunities.<br />Create a recruitment database of women, minority, disability, schools, etc. to do additional diversity recruitment to expand diversity within the company as part of “good faith efforts.” Letters should be sent to those designated diversity resources for outreach for hiring needs and local union halls also notified as applicable. Keep copies of all letters sent for auditing purposes and include an example in your company’s affirmative action plan.<br />Record Keeping<br />Recordkeeping and documentation are a critical part of complying with affirmative action regulations. The OFCCP has stated that the most frequently cited violation in compliance reviews involves recordkeeping. Under Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and VEVRRA contractors with 150 or more employees and a contract of $150,000 or more must maintain employment records for two years. Contractors below these thresholds must retain employment records for one year.<br />All records related to filling a position must be kept from one to two years from the date the new employee starts, not from the date the position becomes available. This may result in a retention period longer than one or two years. In addition, when an evaluation is scheduled, a complaint filed, a compliance review initiated, or an enforcement action commenced, the contractor must keep all relevant records until final disposition of the action.<br />Personnel or employment records that are required to be kept under these regulations include:<br />Records relating to reasonable accommodations<br />Results of physical examinations<br />Job advertisements and postings<br />Applications and resumes<br />Tests and test results<br />Interview notes – please make sure not to make any notes on employment applications or resumes, yet keep a separate set of notes that can later on be transposed to keep on file as part of the recruitment process. The OFCCP looks at this information to see if there is any discrimination in the company’s hiring practices and how they arrived at the hiring decision for the selection made.<br />Other records having to do with hiring, assignment, promotion, demotion, transfer, layoff, termination, rates of pay, or other terms of compensation, and selection for training or apprenticeship.<br />Employers should create and maintain employment records as events take place. For example, applicant flow records, new hire reports, termination/layoff logs and transfer reports all show an action that needs to be recorded. E-mails are also relevant if it’s in regards to a hiring decision as are other electronic communication and even post-it notes which can be transposed. Contractors might want to consider auditing applicant records to ensure all paperwork matches the actual log records. Missing documentation should be investigated and the reasons identified for corrective action prior to any OFCCP audits. <br />Review<br />“Self- Auditing”<br />If you are a small business that is doing business with a federal agency ($10,000 or more per year) or plans to in the future:<br />Visit the OFCCP (Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program) pages on the Department of Labor’s website www.dol.gov/ofccp/<br />Review the guidelines<br />List any actions that you need to take to be fully compliant<br />Perform a self-audit to see how your business is doing (use the how-to guide on the website)<br />