Web Chat with Pat Shiu: January 7, 2011

Patricia Shiu recently addressed the contractor community to join her on Friday, January 7 as she hosts a live web chat from 1:30-2:30 PM (EST) to discuss OFCCP's regualatory agenda. The OFCCP is also seeking public comment on how they can collect data regarding worker compensation in order to close the persisting wage gap between men and women.

To review the Fall 2010 Regulatory Agenda that will be discussed during the web chat, click here. http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/DOL_Fall_2010_Regulatory_Agenda.pdf#page76

To join the chat and find other useful information about the Department of Labor's agenda, including fact sheets, videos, and archival material visit www.dol.gov/regulations.

Placement Goals for Persons with Disabilities

As many Federal contractors may know, the OFCCP has announced through various conferences and webinars that they intend to require placement goals for persons with disabilities in the very near future. Hence, the question that the Federal contracting community is asking is: “Where is the OFCCP getting the numbers to drive such an ambitious goal?” Prior to 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics had not asked survey questions in regard to persons’ disabilities. However in 2008, in the annual American Community Survey (ACS), the Bureau started asking more questions about people with disabilities. The types of questions being asked have become more specific and extensive when compared to surveys from prior years.

Currently, the disability questions on the ACS focus on the effect of one’s disability upon his/her physical life as well as the person’s work history within the past year. Specifically, the questions revolved around the respondent’s disability and whether it affected their ability to work. Furthermore, questions were asked in regards to the respondents’ education, occupation, industrial sector they worked in, and wages. Thus, with the introduction of the new questions being asked about disability since 2008, the OFCCP will be able to determine availability for persons with disabilities by utilizing a three-year rollup of data from 2008, 2009, and 2010.

Additional E-Mail Sent Regarding 2010 EEO Census File

On December 17th, staff from the EEOC sent an e-mail to subscribers regarding additional details about the 2010 EEO census file. Below are the highlights of the e-mail. 

Summary:

• Informal update on the status of the American Community Survey 2010 Special EEO Tabulation from the Census Bureau. These updates will continue, as needed, until the EEO (Tabulation) File and its accompanying means for accessing data from the File are released in the fall of 2012. This information is unofficial and provisional, as it will only be finalized shortly before the Census Bureau releases the EEO File and its mechanism for accessing it.
• As for the information on “disability,” it could not be made part of this upcoming File.
• As mentioned in the first update, the occupational crosswalks for the 2010 File will be based in the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification System.
• In the works is a proposed crosswalk from the 840 detailed occupational codes contained in the SOC system to the approximately 479 detailed occupational categories coded by and available from Census for worksite data. (There will an additional category for residence data.) This same attachment contains the crosswalks between and among the various occupational groupings required for various purposes.
• In addition to the primary SOC to Census crosswalk, the attachment shows the proposed crosswalks for the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) job categories; the EEOC’s nine EEO-1 form categories; the EEOC’s nine MD-715 Federal Sector categories; and the generally useful 14 EEO categories, which can be easily collapsed into the nine EEO-1 categories.
• The Census codes will, more likely than not, consist of four digit codes.
• In addition to the standard numbers and derived percents, the EEO File will have a standard-error or margin-of-error available for every number or estimate. 
• It now appears that Combined Statistical Areas (CBA’s) will not be provided for several reasons, including the fact that they can be constructed from lower level geographies.
• The mechanism for accessing and tabulating information from the Census 2010 Special EEO File will be created by the Census Bureau for the Federal Consortium of civil rights agencies. It will be part of the American FactFinder and will have a new look and feel, be more powerful, and - at the same time - be more user-friendly. 
• The basic EEO tables produced will probably consist of a standard or user-modified table of numbers and table of percents, just as with the previous 2000 EEO File Data Tool(http://www.census.gov/eeo2000/index.html). It will most likely be able produce an additional table of standard-errors or margins-of-error that correspond to each of the estimates contained in the table of numbers.
• In addition to the general tools that are available to everyone for accessing and using the data in the EEO Special File, there will be query and report tools created by the various civil rights agencies that will make it easy for users of the File to find and produce what they need. Traditional users of the EEO Special File will be guided by American FactFinder to special sections that have been developed for them by the Federal civil rights agencies. In essence, the features and capabilities of the previous 2000 Special EEO File Data Tool will be incorporated in FactFinder through special EEO sections, which will provide steps for the EEO community to find, format, print and download what they need.

Despite all of the preceding information on the current status of the Special EEO File and the means for accessing it, the entire project is still a work-in-progress.

New CSAL Letters Arriving on Federal Contractors Desks

As promised, the OFCCP has mailed out the 2011 Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letter (CSAL). At least one set of letters was dated December 6th, so contractors should be checking in with their CEO to see if a letter was received. The text of the updated letters appears to be largely the same as previously issued versions.

For details associated with the CSAL, see the Frequently Asked Questions from the OFCCP webiste listed here:

http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/faqs/csalfaqs.htm

More Details on 2010 EEO Census File Emerge

More details are being posted regarding the 2010 EEO census file for use in the development of Affirmative Action Plans. First, the list of census codes has been released and can be found here:

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/ioindex/ioindex.html

The 2010 EEO census occupational list has 539 codes and 4 military codes. The list, available in spreadsheet format, is separated by job category.

Additional details were made available in a Powerpoint presentation by the US Census Bureau. The summary is as follows:

- File is sponsored by The EEOC, OFCCP, Dept. of Justice Civil Rights Division and the Office of Personnel Management

- Similar to the 2000 EEO file, the 2010 file is a special tabulation of the civilian labor force (CLF) aged 16 and older

- Occupation by sex by race/ethnicity, and other characteristics for detailed geography

- External benchmark for conducting comparisons between the racial, ethnic, and sex composition of each employer's workforce to its available labor market

- Used by organizations to develop and update their affirmative action plans

- Monitoring/enforcing Civil Rights laws:
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA)
Rehabilitation Act of 1973

- New for the 2010 EEO File
ACS 2006-2010 5-year file
Margins of error
2010 Census population base
2010 SOC Occupation categories
Additional variable: Citizenship

- Three Geography Types
Residence
Worksite
Worflow Geography

- Geography Levels
U.S. Total
All states
Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA’s) of 50,000 or more
Counties and County Sets (Counties with populations of 50,000 or more or aggregations of counties that together have a population of 50,000 or more.)
Places of 50,000 or more

- Expected Availability - Fall 2012

Link to the slides is here:

http://search.census.gov/search?q=2010+eeo+tabulation&filter=0&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&ud=1&client=subsite&proxystylesheet=subsite&hq=inurl%3Awww.census.gov%2Fhhes%2Fwww%2Feeoindex&subtitle=&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8

OFCCP Continues to Pursue Discrimination Cases Against Food and Beverage Suppliers

On Thursday, December 2, 2010 the OFCCP posted their latest case against a food and beverage supplier. Over the last 24 months, food and beverage contractors have continuously found themselves under the OFCCP's microscope and in the press due to issues in female and minority hiring. While the OFCCP has not stated that they are focused on the food and beverage industry, any internet search of OFCCP complaints against Federal contractors will show that over the last two years there has been a steady stream of six-figure settlements against food and beverage distributors.

See details and link to OFCCP web posting below:
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/ofccp/OFCCP20101644.htm

Wholesale Food Distributor Sued for Discrimination Against Women

Nash Finch Company, the second largest wholesale food distributor in the U.S., was sued this week by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs for systemic discrimination against more than 80 qualified female applicants who sought positions at the company's Lumberton, N.C., facility. Over the past decade, the Minneapolis-based company has been involved in several discrimination cases with OFCCP at various facilities throughout the country. "It is unacceptable that a company which profits from lucrative federal contracts would repeatedly violate the law in this manner," said OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu. "Nash Finch has demonstrated an unfortunate pattern and practice of hiring discrimination, and the American taxpayers should not have to bankroll their bad behavior anymore."