Hiring Minorities, Veterans, and Women isn’t just wise for companies, it is also a federal requirement. We don’t believe in simply hiring for compliance’s sake; why waste valuable time and resources on individuals who can’t contribute to your company’s success?

Nevertheless, it is imperative that businesses and corporations be acutely aware of the government’s regulations on equal-opportunity recruitment, Veteran inclusion, and Minority affirmative action. We’ve complied few of the key points of what you should to know to stay legally compliant.

How compliance is evaluated

According to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programss (OFCCP):

 

Beginning in 2007, employers, including federal contractors, were required to report data about the racial, ethnic, and gender composition of their workforces on a revised Standard Form 100, Employer Information Report (commonly referred to as the “EEO-1 Report”). The revised EEO-1 Report was to be filed for the first time by September 30, 2007….    This announcement also has no effect on how the agency will examine a contractor’s overall good faith efforts, or its compliance with recordkeeping, nondiscrimination or affirmative action requirements, beyond the above interim enforcement guidance. The OFCCP will continue to rely on Census data, labor market data, or other information to assess a contractor’s employment practices when the contractor has not maintained sufficiently detailed information regarding the effect of its employment practices on minorities and women.

— The Interim Guidance on the use of Race and Ethnic Categories in
Affirmative Action Programs

In other words, because the OFCCP evaluates companies through forms such as the EEO-1 Report and environmental data (gathered from the U.S. Census results and labor market surveys) the primary effort needed for compliance beyond this is a “good faith effort and affirmative action activity“. This consists of career recruitment efforts directed specifically towards the demographics as outlined by the OFFCP.

What qualifies as a directed effort? Among other strategies, listing job openings in a specific demographically-oriented medium.

What laws affect you

According to Title 41, Part 60 of the code of federal regulations, as taken from the Employment Standards Administration supplied by the OFFCP and the U.S. Department of Labor:

60 – 2.35

No contractor’s compliance status shall be judged alone by weather it reaches it’s goals. Each contractors compliance with its affirmative action obligations will be determined by reviewing the nature of the contractor’s good faith affirmative action activities as required under 60 – 2.17 and the appropriateness of those activities to identify equal employment opportunity problems.  Each company / contractor’s  compliance with its nondiscrimination obligations will be determined by analysis of statistical data and other non statistical information which would indicate weather employees and applicants are being treated without regards to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, or sexual orientation.

60 – 2.17

 C) action-oriented programs

The contractor must develop and execute action oriented programs designed to correct any problem areas identified pursuant to 60 -2.17 and to attain established goals and objectives. In order for these action-oriented programs to be effective, the contractor / company must ensure they consist of more than following the same procedures that preciously produced inadequate results. Furthermore a contractor must demonstrate that it has made good faith efforts to remove identified barriers, expand employment opportunities, and produce measurable results.

Where we come in

EqualityMagazines.com has been recognized by the OFCCP as a subcontractor as defined by the Department of Labor Title 41 code of Federal Regulations: “Any person [company] holding a subcontract” as “Any agreement or arrangement between a contactor and any person [company] (in which the parties do not stand in the relationship of an employer and employee).”

In other words, our diversity websites and digital magazines act as vehicles that exemplify the furtherance of a company or government agency’s “good faith efforts” under the regulations set forth by the U.S. Department of Labor. In addition for federal contractors, our targeted recruitment services fully support the “Internet Applicant” standards as set forth by the Dept. of Labor Employment Standards Administration:

An Internet Applicant is defined as an individual who satisfies the following four criteria:

• The individual submits an expression of interest in employment through the Internet or related electronic data technologies;
• The contractor considers the individual for employment in a particular position;
•  The individual’s expression of interest indicates the individual possesses the basic qualifications for the position;
• The individual at no point in the contractor’s selection process prior to receiving an offer of employment from the contractor, removes himself or herself from further consideration or otherwise indicates that he or she is no longer interested in the position.

Department of Labor; Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs,  Internet Applicant Recordkeeping Rule.

Listing your company’s demographic-specific career openings through us helps towards satisfying these good faith efforts, contributing to your company’s diversity compliance.

A direct fiduciary relationship

However, there is a fine line between “direct compliance” and “compliance by association”. Don’t be fooled by the narrow difference between the two:

Direct compliance means that the recruiter and subcontractor have established a paid contract of services, or a direct fiduciary relationship, in order to advertise the targeted career listing(s). The vendor has officially hired the subcontractor to showcase its targeted jobs to a specific demographic. Only this counts as a true “good faith” effort in the eyes of the OFCCP. This is good

Compliance by association refers to a job listing appearing on a subcontractor’s media outlet without a prior specific contract between the vendor and subcontractor. These include career links as seen through third-party advertisements, widgets, or sources. A job that just happens to appear on a diversity-oriented website without an explicit contract between the website and recruiter does not hold legal compliance weight. This is bad