The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs protects and enforces Executive Order 11246, as amended; Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended, 38 U.S.C. 4212. These are the three main laws the OFCCP protects. They also ensure compliance with Executive Order 13201.
The basis of this Office is to ensure that federal contractors and subcontractors do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and protected veteran status.
To ensure this does not occur, the Office performs audits and submits compliance standards. Among these is the Jobs for Veterans Act.
This law requires that contractors list job openings with the appropriate employment service delivery system. Employment openings that fall under this category include all positions except executive and top management positions, positions that will be filled from within the contractor’s organization, and positions lasting three days or less.
A federal contract is defined by the government as any agreement between a department or agency of the Federal Government and any person for the purchase, sale, or use of goods or services, while a federal subcontract is an agreement or arrangement with a Federal contractor either (1) for the furnishing of supplies or services or for the use of real or personal property, which is necessary to the performance of any one or more Federal contracts; or (2) under which any portion of the Federal contractor’s obligation under any contracts is performed, undertaken, or assumed.
So some but not all contracts with a Federal contractor will trigger coverage under the laws administered by OFCCP.
Federal contractors and subcontractors with 50 or more employees and a contract of $50,000 or more – to develop and maintain a written affirmative action program (AAP).
For those who are questioning whether they fall under the law, typically Federal contracts and subcontracts are covered under Executive Order 11246 unless specifically exempted. Contracts and subcontracts of less than $10,000 generally are exempt from coverage under Executive Order 11246, though some contracts under that amount are covered.
Basic compliance standards include no discrimination, posting equal employment opportunity posters around the workplace, including the EEO tag line in employment advertising, keeping thorough records, permitting the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program access to books and records during a complaint or audit, and filing an annual EEO-1 report. These are considered the most basic standards enforced by the OFCCP.
When the OFCCP conducts a desk audit to determine if violations have been made, they check for several red flags, including the enforcement of equal employment opportunity. Equal employment opportunity requires that a contractor eliminate and remedy all discrimination. A contractor’s personnel policies and practices must not discriminate against any persons because of their race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or covered veteran status.
Contractors must all set up an affirmative action program, which a set of specific and result-oriented policies and procedures to which a contractor commits itself to apply every good faith effort. The objective of those procedures plus such efforts is equal employment opportunity. The program will be analyzed for its completeness, reasonableness, and acceptability during an audit.
