Complete AAP News - March '98
OFCCP's 1998 Agenda
Deputy Assistant Secretary Shirley J. Wilcher stated the OFCCP intends to continue overhauling the affirmative action regulations that began last year and focus on pay discrimination issues.
New regulations published last summer and referred to as Section 60-1, initiated a "tiered" approach to conducting compliance reviews, which gives the OFCCP the option of merely checking a contractor's plan all the way to starting a full on-site review.
In 1998 OFCCP will focus on addressing specific elements within the affirmative action plan with a goal of reducing paperwork by 30%. Under consideration is reducing the factors in the Eight Factor Analysis and considering a different format for smaller organizations with less than 150 employees.
The OFCCP intends to continue examining compensation issues in 1998. Region III, headquartered in Philadelphia is using an approach that looks at an organization's own salary structure to determine which jobs the organization feels are similar, then compares the pay of women and minorities in these jobs to the pay of males and whites. This analysis is commonly referred to as the "DuBray" approach, for the regional director in the region who first endorsed it's use.
The OFCCP plans to add a new section to their compliance manual on compensation analysis once they have settled on a particular analysis formula.
The Chicago regional office is preparing to launch its "tester" program that will send pairs of White and Hispanic applicants to affirmative action employers to see if they are treated fairly. The San Francisco regional office is also in the early phase of a testing program involving women applicants.
Yocom & McKee, Inc. will continue to monitor changes in OFCCP regulations and practices to ensure our clients have the most compliant and up to date affirmative action plans.
Recent OFCCP Actions
Computer Firm Pays $400,000 to Settle Pay Inequity: A computer software firm agreed to pay $400,000 in back wages to settle OFCCP charges that the company discriminated against 153 women who were paid less than men. There were no differences in qualifications or seniority to explain why women were paid less than male counterparts in the same grade levels. They also did not have any formalized performance appraisal system at the time of the review.
Research Firm Raises Salaries to Resolve Pay Inequity: A Research contractor has agreed to raise salaries for 56 female and minority managers and professionals who the OFCCP claimed were being paid less than white male counterparts. Under a conciliation agreement, the salary adjustment will total more than $182,000 per pay period.
Significant Affirmative Action Rule Changes
Certificates of Compliance Eliminated: Section 60-1.8(b) Certification by prime contractors and subcontractors of non-segregated facilities by their vendors and subcontractors has been eliminated by the OFCCP.
Record Retention: Section 60-1.12(a) now requires that any personnel or employment records must be kept for not less than two years from the date of making the record or personnel action involved, whichever is later. If the organization has less than 150 employees or does not have a government contract of at least $150,000, the record retention period is reduced to one year. Section 60-1.12(b) requires that organizations maintain their current affirmative action plan and a copy of the previous year plan.
Compliance Reviews Section 60-1.20 was rewritten to allow OFCCP flexibility in deciding the level of compliance evaluation undertaken. Included are:
- Compliance reviews;
- Off-site review of records (expressly authorizes OFCCP to take information off-site for review);
- Compliance check;
- Focused review; and
- Pre-award compliance evaluations (now triggered only if the contract is in excess of $10 million)
Debarment Section 60-1.27(b) authorizes debarment from receiving future contracts or extensions of existing contracts for any violation. Debarment may be for an indefinite term or for a fixed period of not less than six months.
Decisions on new Race, Ethnic Classifications
The Office of Management and Budget recently issued specific recommendations on new race and ethnic classifications. These categories are scheduled to be used for the next census in the year 2000. How they will be implemented and how persons choosing multiple categories will be handled is still being studied.
Here are the categories:
- American Indian or Alaska Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.
- Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
- Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as "Haitian" or "Negro" can be used in addition to "Black" or "African American."
- Hispanic or Latino. A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. The term "Spanish origin," can be used in addition to "Hispanic or Latino."
- Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
- White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
Respondents shall be offered the option of selecting one or more racial designations.
New Vets-100 Processing Center and Reporting Deadline
The Processing Center and phone Number is:
U.S. Department of Labor
Office of Veterans' Employment & Training
VETS-100 Reporting
6101 Stevenson Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22304
(703) 461-2460
The reporting deadline for the VETS-100 form for 1998 is now September 30th. This replaces the previous deadline of March 31.
Questions & Answers
I'm starting my affirmative action plan for 1998, what dates should I use for gathering my employee data, including information about applicants, hires, promotions, and separations?
This is a confusing topic for many affirmative action planners. Information about active employees should be taken as of one date near the beginning of your affirmative action plan year. For example, if your 1998 plan runs from 1/1/98 to 12/31/98, you should gather information about all active employees as of 1/1/98 in order to complete the statistical analysis and goals. This list of active employees as of one point in time is compared against what is available in the areas you recruit. Using this information, areas where you are statistically underutilized in women and minorities are derived.
Affirmative action regulations also require an analysis of employee movement over the past year. This means you must gather information about the number of persons who applied, were hired, promoted and separated between 01/01/97 to 12/31/97. This information is used to create the Adverse Impact Analysis Reports. This analysis of movement is also compared against last year's goals to gauge how successful the organization was in meeting last year's goals.
A complete affirmative action plan includes a snapshot of current employees to analyze where underutilization currently exists. Goals for the current plan are based on this snapshot. A summary of all the applicants, hires, promotions, and separations that occurred over the prior year is used to analyze adverse impact and to gauge progress toward last year's goals. Add in the narrative portion and the plan is finished. Simple!
Expert Tip:
If you are having any problems running, printing, entering or importing data in the Complete AAP or Employment Tracker software, you should first check the version number of your software. From the "Help Menu" choose "About the Complete AAP" or "Employment Tracker." Note the version number listed.
Next, go to our website at http://www.yocom-mckee.com and check the version number on the latest updates available on-line. If you do not have the latest update, choose to download it. We regularly post maintenance releases to both programs on the web site. Be sure you have the registration number for the software that was originally sent with your manual and software as you will need to re-register after upgrading.
The Complete AAP News is published by Yocom & McKee, Inc. to inform users of The Complete AAP and Employment Tracker software of changes in affirmative action laws and regulations, review current activities at the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), and share tips and new information about the software.
