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How to Remain Compliant When Hiring Contract Employees and Contingent Workers
June 17, 2021
Following an encouraging three-year trend, discrimination charges are down this year. This is according to the latest Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) report. Still, there were 67,448 new charges in 2020. And, the EEOC Chair has said the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on minority groups.
Clearly, there’s still work to be done. Here, you’ll find the crucial information you need to know about when and how to file an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO-1) report, and what steps you can take to remain compliant with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).
The report, also referred to as the Standard Form 100, is for:
The information that these employers must provide is racial/ethnic and gender data by job categories. This is known as Component 1 data. At the time of writing, the collection of Component 2 data – working hours and pay rate – has been suspended. Employers should not expect to provide this information in the EEO-1 report.
To start with, if you haven’t already, register and make an account to access the filing system online. You’ll need to gather this data by location if your company is a multi-establishment business, with data per location of 50 or more employees as well as your headquarters, and a consolidated report.
Ideally, you want to offer accurate self-identified data. The best time to request this information from your employees is during onboarding. JazzHR’s Applicant Tracking System allows you to automatically include relevant questions for all jobs, as well.
If you haven’t collected this information and kept it up-to-date, such as when employees change job roles, then the next step is to request your employees fill out a voluntary survey. But, employees can always decline to self-identify. In this case, the EEOC guidance is to use existing employment records or observer identification. The less guesswork, of course, the better.
Remember, you will need to do some work – unless you’re using a system that does this for you – to categorize your employees’ answers into the EEO-accepted categories for job title and race/ethnicity.
Once you have filed your report, keep a copy of these records for at least a year in case of follow-up, such as an audit. Speaking of…
An EEO-1 report is mandated by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. Therefore, its use extends beyond the EEOC and is required as part of a broader landscape of regulations to ensure fair treatment of workers.
The OFCCP also uses the EEO-1 report for their audits to identify which employers to investigate further. However, it’s important to remember the OFCCP requires businesses to meet legal requirements to prohibit discrimination and requires affirmative action over a range of areas that go beyond the EEO-1 report.
So, accurately filing the EEO-1 report is just the start of a comprehensive, ongoing process. Organizations must meet these high standards, or they will face heavy penalties if an OFCCP audit finds non-compliance.
To get you on the right track, here are some resources and further reading:
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