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Recruitment & Retention

Published June 2008

The New Components of Compliance

Kurt Ronn

Companies may not even know their hiring practices are discriminatory, but a lack of awareness won't protect talent managers and the organizations they serve from paying the steep price for non-OFCCP compliance.

The Internet has made it easier for everyone to apply for a job. But it has also made it easier for companies to inadvertently discriminate against job seekers.
 
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), a division of the Department of Labor's Employment Standards Administration, oversees federal government contractors' hiring practices. The OFCCP is charged with finding and penalizing organizations that discriminate against job seekers, and its work — ensuring compliance with employment regulations with respect to discrimination and affirmative action — keeps the organization awfully busy.

Organizational efforts to remedy systemic hiring discrimination can cost a great deal, but not being compliant is even more expensive. In 2006 and 2007 combined, the OFCCP collected more than $100 million in settlements from federal contractors with noncompliant recruitment and hiring practices.

To avoid this unnecessary cost to both the bottom line and brand reputation, federal contractors and talent managers must scrutinize their recruitment processes and quickly fix any problems before an audit occurs.

Increased Applicant Scrutiny

In 2006, the OFCCP implemented the now-infamous Internet Applicant regulation. This ruling defines how an expression of interest for employment acquired through electronic media actually can be considered an application for government contractors. To monitor and regulate this rule, the OFCCP established four criteria that deem how, when and why a person becomes an Internet Applicant.

Prior to implementation of the Internet Applicant rule, the OFCCP generally only received and reviewed applicant data from individuals who were interviewed for particular positions. However, the change in the definition of "applicant," necessitated by the onset of the Internet age, has resulted in federal contractors being required to maintain data that formerly was not reviewed by compliance auditors. This includes "expressions of interest" ranging from resume-database searches to all resumes retrieved from a university job fair.
 
With the new regulation, the agency also defined specific electronic data techniques that would be considered in determining compliance when gathering and reviewing electronic expressions of interest. The ruling introduced a new "basic qualifications" standard, which in combination with the other criteria defining an Internet Applicant, set clear guidelines on the records government contractors must keep as they receive electronic expressions of interest.

With the OFCCP's changing focus, the Internet Applicant regulations now require government contractors to capture data that will allow the OFCCP to more easily assess and identify the presence of systemic discrimination.