The Office of Federal Contract and Compliance Programs has issued more bureaucratic steps for employers to take to meet Affirmative Action requirements.  There is no study that shows adding these numerous data collection and recordkeeping requirements will help increase disability hiring.  One new rule requires employers to ask applicants if they are disabled TWICE during the hiring process and once a year after they are hired.  Employers don’t see the value added and also are requesting “safe harbor” to ensure they won’t be sued for violations of the ADA by asking individuals if they are disabled.  The OFCCP has selected 7% as an arbitrary goal for employers to use for hiring people with disabilities within all job groups.  Again, no data supports that 7% is a reasonable goal; and using an arbitrary percentage is a new precedent.  In the past employers have set utilization goals for protected class groups based on the availability of individuals within a protected class.  Another new rule requires accommodation requests be in writing and responses given within a specified time period.  These requirements actually will impede the good will and constructive dialogue between applicant/employee and the employer regarding accommodation needs.  The OFCCP is dropping this on employers without sufficient time for employers to overhaul their data collection software and processes.   

Other concerning requirements are:  more recordkeeping, more sensitivity training and an annual review of all physical and mental job qualifications with a written explanation as to why each requirement is related to the job.

This last requirement is what I call “Karla’s Full Employment Act”.  As a job analyst and documenter, it will give me more work to do.  I’ll get paid, the employer will pay me, the cost of the company’s product or service will go up.  But will more qualified people with disabilities be hired?  These minutia requirements do not affect change.   They only add cost.   Employers’ willingness and readiness to hire qualified people, with or without an accommodation and regardless of disability are the keys to having a workforce that mirrors all people. 

The feds seem to never give up on the notion that employers will do the wrong thing and not the right thing.  It is in the employers’ best interest to do the right thing — and they do. 

These new OFCCP / AA requirements are just a small sampling of the continuous bombardment of onerous regulations on employers.