Adding to the FAQs previously released, OFCCP has released additional guidance addressing audit submission requirements under the new Scheduling Letter for contractors more than six months into their plan year when the Scheduling Letter is received.
Items 9 and 13 of the Scheduling Letter require contractors to provide documentation of the computation or comparisons called for in section .44(k) of the VEVRAA and Section 503 regulations. These sections require data collection on the number of job openings, jobs filled, total applicants and hires, and total disabled/protected veteran applicants and hires. The new FAQs clarify that if a contractor is more than six months in their AAP plan year when they receive a scheduling letter, the contractor must provide this information for the first six months of their plan year.
The same is true in connection with item 10 of the itemized listing which addresses evaluation of the company’s utilization of individuals of disabilities. If a contractor is more than six months into their plan year when they are scheduled for a compliance review, the contractor is required to submit the utilization for the first six months of the plan year, or in the alternative, provide OFCCP with the information so that OFCCP can perform the analyses.
Finally, in the third FAQ issued today, OFCCP clarified that for contractors scheduled for a compliance review more than six months into their plan year, the contractor need only “provide documentation of the benchmark adopted for the current AAP.” The contractor does not have to analyze or compare the hiring rate of protected veterans to the adopted benchmark.
As OFCCP continues to initiate and undertake compliance reviews under the new Scheduling Letter we expect additional guidance to be released. We’ll provide updates as they become available.