Summer evokes thoughts of sun… beaches… fireworks… cook-outs… pregnancy fairness… veteran employment reporting… As my kids would say at this point, “Wait, what?”
At a time of year when many people are slowing down at work and taking vacations, State and Federal government agencies are keeping employers, especially employers with Federal contracts and subcontracts (a.k.a. affirmative action employers), hopping. Rolling from spring through fall, affirmative action employers should keep an eye on several relevant deadlines:
1. EEO-1 Reporting
EEO-1 Reports are scheduled to be filed by March 31st each year, but EEOC notified the public that the system would open in July 2023. The agency recently updated its filing website that the “tentative opening” of the system to collect 2022 EEO-1 Reports is delayed to “Fall of 2023.” Watch Home (eeocdata.org) for additional information in upcoming months. Reporting is required of most employers with 100 or more employees, but the threshold drops to 50 employees for Federal contractors and subcontractors.
2. California Pay Data Reporting
Initially due on May 10th, employers had an opportunity in 2023 to request an extension for filing the new Labor Contractor Pay Data Report with California’s Civil Rights Department. Extensions were granted through July 10th. Although already past due, employers who missed filing either the employer or labor contractor versions of the Pay Data Report can and should still do so at California Pay Data Reporting | CRD. Private employers with 100 or more employees and/or workers hired through labor contracts, that have at least 1 California employee, are required to file these reports.
3. Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Affirmative action employers, among others, must display the new Know Your Rights poster in both physical and electronic locations where applicants and employees can view it. On June 27th, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) went into effect, requiring covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation poses an undue hardship for the employer. PWFA precipitated changes to the Know Your Rights poster, which many employers had recently posted as a replacement to the posters EEO is the Law and EEO is the Law Supplement. Get the newest version at Know Your Rights: Workplace discrimination is illegal (eeoc.gov) to avoid noncompliance.
4. OFCCP Contractor Portal Certification
OFCCP is now in its second year of requiring affirmative action employers to certify the compliance of their affirmative action programs. Certification is submitted online at Welcome | OFCCP Contractor Portal – U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov) and this year’s deadline was June 29th. The portal remains open and employers who missed the deadline are strongly encouraged to complete their certification without further delay. Affirmative action employers who fail to certify will be prioritized for OFCCP audits. Some employers faced problems with the Contractor Portal technology platform and with not having the necessary EEO-1 company information to register an account or create a new establishment, caused by EEOC’s delays in EEO-1 filing this year. OFCCP has assured that employers who contacted the Help Desk on or before June 29th will not be deemed to have certified late. The agency’s FAQs at Contractor Portal Frequently Asked Questions | U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov) provide information for employers experiencing difficulty with their EEO-1 identifiers.
5. Disability Self-Identification Form
While affirmative action employers solicit applicants and employees for race, ethnicity, gender, veteran, and disability status, only the Disability Self-Identification Form must be used in the government’s format. OFCCP released a new version of the form this spring, incorporating an expanded set of examples. You might find some of them surprising with regard to how common they are: alcohol or substance use disorder, heart disease, diabetes, disfigurement caused by burns, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, migraines, and asthma. Further, respondents can select “Yes” if they “have a disability or have had one in the past” (emphasis added). The new form Voluntary Self‐Identification of Disability Form | U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov) must be implemented by July 25th: offered to job applicants and new hires, and used to survey the full workforce at least once every 5 years. Employers looking to boost disability self-ID rates in support of affirmative action goals should consider using the new form now, even if it isn’t yet time for the next employee survey. With the broad list of examples, many employees may be surprised to find they can now select “Yes.” Employers relying on human resource information or applicant tracking systems to present the form to applicants and employees should check the system(s) no later than July 25th – and ideally sooner – to ensure the vendor has implemented the new form.
6. VETS-4212 Reports
If the Veterans Employment and Training Service operates as usual, we expect to see the VETS-4212 filing system open in early August with a filing deadline of September 30th. Federal contractors and subcontractors with a single contract valued at $150,000 or more and at least 1 employee are required to file. Employers filing EEO-1 reports with 12/31/22 data are permitted to also file VETS-4212 with the 12/31/22 data; others must select a pay period in July or August 2023. Either way, it isn’t too early to start compiling your data so you are ready to file as soon as the system opens. Find a reporting advisor, registration, login, FAQs, and forms at VETS-4212 Federal Contractor Reporting | U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov).
HR Works Can Help
HR Works can assist you with all of these! Current affirmative action clients should contact their project manager with any questions. If you are not a client, or not an affirmative action employer, but are interested in EEO-1, VETS-4212, or California Pay Data Reporting, contact us today. Ding ding! Is that the ice cream truck I hear?