Affirmative Action Requirement Changes

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has implemented two major affirmative action requirement changes which will come into effect on March 24, 2014. The two new rules focus on covered veterans and disabled persons; OFCCP now requires employers to have concrete numeric goals for recruiting and hiring. The affirmative action rule change for covered veterans applies to all employers that have federal contracts and subcontracts greater than $100,000, and the rule change for disabled persons applies to employers with contracts greater than $10,000. In regards to new hires, the benchmark has been changed to 8% [or greater] for veterans and 7% [or greater] in each job group for disabled persons. If justifiable, contractors are allowed to institute a different target percentage of hired veterans and a target of 7% of the total workforce for disabled persons. A change that has been implemented for both groups is that candidates must be given the chance to self-identify prior to the offer stage. Furthermore, data collection for hiring and recruiting will be provided to employers in great detail and must be kept for three years. These rules will be effective starting March 24, 2014, but for employers that are already using an annual affirmative action plan on that date, implementation of the new changes will begin at the start of their next AAP year.

View full article HERE.