DE Talk Unplugged | If It’s Not in Writing, It Never Happened: Applicant Tracking & Recordkeeping Strategies to Ensure OFCCP Compliance

For federal contractors, a major component of OFCCP compliance hinges on recordkeeping as proof of their processes and efforts in the event of an audit. Fortunately, your applicant tracking system (ATS) can be a great tool for keeping you on track. Dive into a snippet of this conversation between DirectEmployers’ Shannon Offord and OutSolve’s Momolu Cooper to discover the specific requirements related to applicant tracking and recordkeeping applicable to federal contractors.

Shannon Offord:

When it comes to record keeping and retention, contractors again have specific requirements to maintain compliance. What are the specific record keeping retention requirements under OFCCP regulations?

Momolu Cooper:

So I would say for applicant tracking, fairly simple, but most people don’t even realize this. So imagine you have 1,000 people apply for a job. If you don’t look at a single application, there’s no record keeping obligation at all. 1,000 people can apply, you don’t look at a near one, there’s no record keeping. The second you look, and the OFCCP regards that as you considered a candidate, but the second you look at that resume or application, you now have a three year record-keeping obligation of those records. Now, they may not make it on the applicant tracking for an affirmative action program, but dispositions of your candidates are by far, especially going through these reviews, are things that you need to keep. And when you’re looking at your employment records, if someone was promoted or anything of that effect, the individuals if it was competitive you need to keep some type of tracking log of those that you compared for that selection.

Momolu Cooper:

For termination something as simple as involuntary versus voluntary separations is a good designation, but trying to get a reason from the candidate holds his weight every time in a review. If someone was separated from the organization involuntarily due to performance issues, then you better make sure you have the last three performance evaluations to document why that individual separated. And at the end of the day, I would just tell you anything that affects or influences an employee’s employment at an organization, retain those records for three years.

Shannon Offord:

That’s really good to know. I think a lot of people get confused as to that because I think some people think it’s two or whatever or ten or you know I think you know knowing that they don’t have to keep them for eternity is good. What strategies can businesses implement to ensure they are retaining records properly and securely?

Momolu Cooper:

Yes.

Shannon Offord:

What strategies can businesses implement to ensure they are retaining records properly and securely?

Momolu Cooper:

That securely thing is huge. A lot of people don’t realize this, but you think on HIPAA and you know, got to keep medical records private and so forth. But they don’t realize, and I will just stress this for a little bit, if someone self-identifies as a veteran, well, if one of those categories that you’re not capturing is a disabled veteran and you put that in their personnel file that a manager or someone else can access, well, you’re exposing a disability that you know that’s that’s private information.

Momolu Cooper:

Another piece would be you know if someone identifies as having a disability and not keeping those records separate has been a major major piece of that. So I will just tell as you’re going through these, audit your processes. Go in and see where these records are but always audit your processes. Make sure you’re capturing information. Pull down a basic itemized listing from the OFCCP website that can show you the components of an auditor, reach out to us and we’ll be more than happy to say, if your personnel processes, your policies, training records, can I provide all this information in a review and what is it that information, especially when it comes to the compensation?

Momolu Cooper:

Shannon, believe it or not, the OFCCP is asking for a snapshot of your compensation last year.

And this year, and what we’re learning is a lot of HRIS, they can’t give you a snapshot in time of where their salary or what their salary actually was at that time. So January, 2022, January 1st, 2022, we need to know their salary. What was their salary that day? And so they have to go through all these records. So being able to fortify your systems and do some just basic housekeeping checks can definitely help you on a compliance piece.

With so much to unpack on this topic, tune in to the full episode to hear more guidance on not only recordkeeping, but also outreach to diverse candidates and more! In the meantime, stay tuned for next month’s podcast focused on employment networks and how they play a vital role in the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work program and support employment of individuals with disabilities.

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