OFCCP regulations are complex, so avoiding violations during a routine evaluation requires your organization to be knowledgeable on the OFCCP’s expectations. It’s important to note that evaluations are scheduled and routine – the OFCCP performs these periodic evaluations to ensure federal contractors are complying with the OFCCP regulations. In this post, we’ll cover the evaluation process at a high level. This is a complex process that varies greatly based on the contractor and the OFCCP’s findings during the process, so it’s recommended to seek professional and/or legal counsel to ensure compliance and audit support.
Evaluations typically start with a “Desk Audit/Review” and can escalate into additional stages of investigation and legal action:
Compliance Review
The compliance review is the first step in an evaluation and is composed of three stages. In this step, a contractor’s employment practices are evaluated, including their affirmative action plan and how they’ve executed upon it. The compliance review consists of three stages:
Desk audit – this stage is the only part of the compliance evaluation that will always happen. The federal contractors will receive a scheduling letter where they will have 30 days of receipt to the letter to provide the information requested. During the desk audit, the OFCCP Compliance Officer may contact the contractor, gather additional information, or ask clarifying questions. This is where the officer determines if a contractor is complying with regulations or if they start to find inconsistencies that could lead to discriminatory findings.
If the OFCCP finds no reason to continue, they may close the investigation after this point and issue a notice of compliance. Otherwise, they will either continue with the evaluations asking for additional data or ask for an on-site review.
On-site review – if needed, the OFCCP will do a closer analysis of records, including interviews with relevant personnel like hiring managers, among others. The OFCCP may conduct this review on-site and in-person or conduct a virtual on-site review.
Potential legal action by the OFCCP – If the OFCCP finds discriminatory actions by the federal contractor, the OFCCP may file legal action. The OFCCP may pursue the contractor to collect back wages, interest, hire certain job seekers and even hire back certain employees.
Final Determination
In the end, the contractor will either be cleared as in a Notice of Compliance, or a violation will be issued. Violations can be financially costly, damaging to the business’s reputation, and can even result in loss of federal contracts, so a successful evaluation is critical.
Remember, this is a high-level overview of what’s involved in a routine OFCCP compliance review. This is a complex process that involves many steps and can vary greatly based on the contractor and the OFCCP’s findings at each step of the process.
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