Attention federal contractors: the to-do’s on your mid-year checklist are coming due. If you haven’t already, it’s time to act on some of the tasks that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has assigned you.
Certifying Affirmative Action Compliance
The OFCCP’s Contractor Portal is currently open for business. Federal contractors who have at least fifty (50) employees and have at least one federal contractor or subcontract of $50,000 or more are required to certify whether they have developed and maintained an affirmative action plan (AAP) for each of the organization’s establishments. Certification must be completed by June 29, 2023. Covered contractors must certify one of three statuses:
- The entity has developed and maintained AAPs for each establishment and/or functional or business unit;
- The entity has been party to a qualifying federal contract or subcontract for 120 days or more, and it has not developed and maintained an AAP at each establishment; or
- The entity became a covered federal contractor or subcontractor within the past 120 days and has not yet developed AAPs for each establishment.
Contractors who select Option 3 have ninety (90) days from the time they access the portal to complete the AAP process and to update their certification in the portal. Keep in mind: you are not required to upload your actual AAPs to the portal.
Revised Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Form
On April 25, 2023, the OFCCP issued a revised Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Form for use by federal contractors. Federal contractors are required to invite applicants to self-identify as an individual with a disability or a protected veteran both prior to making a job offer as well as again after a job has been offered. Contractors are also required to re-survey their workforce every five years. The OFCCP’s new form should be used both with applicants and current employees and must be implemented by July 25, 2023. The revisions to the form list additional categories of disabilities for reference, update language regarding other disabilities, and simplify some of the form’s language. For example, the prior form’s affirmative response stated, “Yes, I have a disability, or have a history/record of having a disability.” The new form simply states, “Yes, I have a disability, or have had one in the past.”
The good news is that even if you still have some of these to-do’s on your list there is still time to work with employment counsel to get them done, and then enjoy that satisfying feeling that comes with marking these items off the list for good. Well, at least until the next to-do list needs to be made!
For more information regarding the OFCCP’s tasks, please contact Michael W. Bowling, or another member of the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group.