Any company that wishes to work with the federal government needs to ensure complete compliance with the OFCCP requirements. Non-compliance can cost businesses heavy penalties, starting from thousands of dollars running into millions of dollars.

What are the compliance requirements of the OFCCP?

The Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs, also referred to as the OFCCP, primarily try to ensure that the contractors who are doing business with the federal government:

• Are not engaging in discrimination against applicants to their organization based on race, religion, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or national origin.
• Take action when it comes to ensuring that applicants are given employment and treated well during their term of employment, irrespective of their race, religion, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or national origin.

To ensure these requirements are met, the OFCCP has put in place several regulations that all federal contractors need to fulfill. The regulations apply to all stages of employment of any employee, with regard to hiring, accounting, and other miscellaneous terms and conditions of overall employment. The requirements are well-detailed and complex; as such, federal contractors should make sure they go through each point thoroughly.

Following are the three laws enforced by OFCCP:

• Prohibition of discrimination and demand of affirmative action from federal contractors to ensure that employment decisions are devoid of bias and discrimination based on race, religion, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or national origin.
• Section 503 of the US Department of labor that prohibits any discrimination based on qualified applicants with disabilities and demands affirmative action for the same.
• The VEVRA prohibits discrimination against veterans who are protected by the VEVRA and also demands affirmative action to ensure the employment of the veterans.

Job posting mistakes to avoid

OFCCP appreciates employing qualified applicants who bring in diversity to the federal contractor’s business. There’s no one place to find good employees, and it is especially important for federal contractors to look for new talent from a diverse pool. To address this, you should broaden the pool of colleges where you are hiring new employees from. You could also try hiring at job fairs sponsored by minority groups or advertise via community newspapers to reach the right audience.

While scripting job postings based on OFCCP rules, keep the below points in mind:

1. All federal contractors, as well as subcontractors, when publishing job postings, must mention that all qualified applicants stand to receive consideration for the post applied to, irrespective of the characteristics mentioned before.
2. Do not mention that the job can be carried out by only a certain gender unless it is otherwise required.
3. Do not mislead with the job title. Be as clear as you can be with the job title so that applicants are clear about the role they are applying to. There should not be any hint of gender, racial, or any other kind of bias, as listed in the OFCCP rules.

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