For organizations that regularly use direct hire recruiting agencies to help fill vacant positions, making sure these agencies are compliant with Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) regulations should be top of mind. This year, there were a couple of changes to the OFFCP laws.
September was a busy month for federal contractors – new pay discrimination rules and regulations regarding the minimum wage increase are the largest changes your organization should be paying attention to going into 2016.
According to the DOL’s Enforcement Data, there have the 2,603 OFCCP Evaluations Violations so far this year.
You don’t want to be caught paying fines for a violation. At the end of the year, you’re probably evaluating current agency contracts to ensure that the skills, expertise and quality of hire of your agencies are in line with your overall talent acquisition goals.
During this evaluation process, make sure that your agencies are OFCCP compliant – don’t become an OFCCP statistic this close to the end of 2015. Here’s a deeper dive into the two newest OFFCP laws that might affect you and your organization, starting in January of 2016.
The Pay Discrimination Rules Have Changed
Under the new OFCCP regulations, federal contractors can no longer fire or discipline employees or job applicants for discussing their pay or the pay of co-workers.
The new rule goes into effect January 11 of 2016, and applies to all federal contracts and subcontracts that surpass $10,000. This change shows the OFCCP taking a new point of view on the issue – they’re now more anti-discrimination than anti-retaliation (which could be more beneficial for the employees).
Now an employee that makes a discrimination claim regarding pay has to show an action or instance that proves to be a motivating factor in the organization’s decision to discriminate, as opposed to a defining factor.
What does this mean for your agency use? It means that it might be a good idea to take a look at your agency pay discrimination practices. An audit will increase your current understanding of compliance within your organization and its contractors to be sure that the agencies you are using are already compliant or have a plan to become compliant by the roll out date.
There will be a Minimum Wage Increase in 2016
The Department of Labor (DOL) also announced, under Executive order 13658, an increase in the minimum wage for the employees of federal contractors in 2016.
The executive order raised the minimum wage for these employees to $10.10 an hour, which went effect in January 2015. In 2016, the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors will increase by five cents to $10.15 per hour.
What are the implications for your organization and its relationship with direct hire recruiting agencies? If your agencies aren’t compliant by the roll-out date for these changes at the beginning of 2016, both you and your agencies could be hit with a hefty fine.
In order to ensure you’re compliant in the event of a federal evaluation, make it a priority to evaluate the practice of your contracted direct hire recruiting agencies at the end of this year. A regular audit of both your internal practices and those of you external contractors will ensure compliance for the 2016 year.
Here at BountyJobs, we understand that it’s difficult to get a handle on all of your agency policies, contracts and spend. If you’re looking to make this whole process easier, sign up to join our marketplace.
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About the Author: Megan Morreale
