What Does OFCCP’s Updated 2022 Directive Mean For Your Organization?

As a business owner, following the OFCCP’s regulations can be a major boost in both reputation and profitability. This is because the OFFCP (Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs) is responsible for ensuring that federal contractors maintain inclusive and equivalent employment opportunities. Thus, following their guidelines can allow your organization to enter into business with the federal government opening a plethora of lucrative and reputable opportunities.

These directives are constantly updated to ensure that they are just for you, the people you work with, and the people who work for you. Specifically, the OFCCP has released an updated 2022 set of directives that have changed priorities and procedures for federal contractors.

Changes in the 2022 OFCCP Directive

As of now, the OFCCP primarily enforces three civil rights laws that focus on discrimination for race, gender, disabilities, veterans, etc. Within this is a centric focus that federal contractors follow an acceptable compensation system. With regard to this, the primary updates in 2022 have been “To provide guidance on how OFCCP will evaluate federal contractors’ compliance with pay equity audit obligations and clarify OFCCP’s authority to access and review pay equity audits conducted pursuant to 41 CFR 60-2.17(b)(3).”

Essentially, if the OFCCP did not receive “an acceptable pay equity audit demonstrating compliance with 2.17(b)(3),” they would be entitled to a review of the contractor’s compensation system produced under privilege.

While it does not specify specific data to be kept, federal contractors can show compliance while keeping privileged reviews private by sharing one of the following documents:

• A modified privileged report with any sensitive information redacted.
• A detailed affidavit stating that a privileged review was completed
• The results of a separate, non-privileged analysis

These documents will be used to conduct a pay equity analysis which will allow the OFCCP to investigate how efficiently a contractor is in compliance with pay equity guidelines.

Alongside these, the OFCCP has also issued statements regarding stricter auditing deadlines, their investigation process, and many other guidelines as some Covid-19 changes are supposedly reeled back.

What It Means For Your Business

While the document itself can be quite confusing for some organizations, it is basically a methodology to ensure that contractors can maintain the privacy of the sensitive information in their compensation systems performed under privilege. So, suppose you are a federal contractor. In that case, the best thing to do is prepare a basic report or affidavit covering an analysis of your compensation system, which can be provided to the OFCCP.

This should include basic details such as the employee pay groupings evaluated, why these groupings were formed, any variables involved, etc. Essentially, these directives allow for some clarity between navigating through client-attorney privileges when working with documents for your compensation system.

Takeaway

With some scrutiny and sharing of information, these guidelines can ensure a more just and safe environment for federal contractors and the OFCCP. That being said, apart from this, there are also many other guidelines you should be aware of. For example, for job postings, the OFCCP has strict guidelines that contractors must comply with. Thankfully, at Redwood Technology Solutions, we provide OFCCP Compliance Job Posting services to make this process easier and more secure for you. Our recruitment team has years of experience and can help you comply with VEVRAA, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Executive Order 11246.