Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)

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Improvements at OFCCP Produce Record Financial Recoveries In FY 05 — $45,156,462 Collected for 14,761 American Workers

The Employment Standards Administration's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs enforces Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended. These laws prohibit federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment based on race, gender, color, religion, national origin, disability or covered veteran status.

In Fiscal Year 2005, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recovered a record $45,156,462 for 14,761 American workers who had been subjected to unlawful employment discrimination. Of that record recovery, 97% was collected in cases of systemic discrimination, those involving a significant number of workers or applicants subjected to discrimination because of an unlawful employment practice or policy. The $45 million reflects a 42% increase over recoveries in FY 2000 and a 56% increase over FY 2001.

OFCCP Enforcement Statistics

Implementation of Active Case Management

In 2003, OFCCP shifted its field operations focus from the total number of cases to the number of cases with indicators of systemic discrimination. The new paradigm was called Active Case Management (ACM). The successful implementation of ACM is now complete. Under ACM principles, OFCCP uses automated statistical methods and ranks and prioritizes establishments for a more thorough analysis based on the probability that discrimination would be uncovered during a compliance review. The Division of Statistical Analysis continued to train staff and automate statistical procedures to more quickly and accurately screen contractor establishments. As a result, 12.4% of OFCCP's completed evaluations closed with a conciliation agreement, compared with 6.7% of OFCCP's completed evaluations closing with a conciliation agreement in fiscal year 2004.

In 2002, once the infrastructure to handle the surveys was in place, OFCCP contracted with Abt Associates, Inc. to study the EO Survey's ability to predict systemic discrimination in order to more effectively target its compliance evaluations. The study used data from 3,723 establishments that responded to the EO Survey, together with the findings from 2,651 completed compliance evaluations, 89 of which found systemic discrimination. Abt's report utilizes standard statistical techniques to determine if there was any relationship between the data in the EO surveys and the determinations of systemic discrimination.

Compliance Assistance Focus

OFCCP also continued to build upon its comprehensive compliance assistance program, conducting more than two thousand compliance assistance events during the last two years. Compliance assistance provides information to contractors to put policies and procedures in place that preclude unlawful employment discrimination.

Clearer Guidance & More Enforceable Standards

To further bolster worker protections with enforceable standards, OFCCP put into place new, clearer guidelines in FY 2005 regarding recordkeeping for electronic applicants and proposed methodologies for the analysis of compensation. These will not only allow for better enforcement by OFCCP but also allow employers to better understand their legal obligations.

Targeting Discrimination Against Women & Minorities in White Collar Jobs

OFCCP performed 50 Corporate Management Compliance Evaluations (CMCEs), also known as "Glass Ceiling" audits. CMCEs ensure that women and minorities do not face discriminatory barriers to advancement into management and executive positions.

Actions to Remedy Discrimination in White Collar Jobs

Strong Enforcement

A significant portion of the recoveries came from cases referred to the Office of the Solicitor for enforcement litigation. In all, OFCCP obtained over $6,389,582 million in financial remedies for more than 2,000 workers in cases referred to the Office of the Solicitor.

OFCCP Enforcement Litigation

1 The figures for each year exclude compliance checks.

2 The fact that OFCCP completed fewer reviews in fiscal year 2005 than in each of the preceding four years-and nevertheless increased financial remedies and workers recompensed by a significant amount-is a testament to the effectiveness of OFCCP in targeting systemic discrimination through ACM.

3 The methodology for tracking this data changed between FY 2003 and FY 2004. The pre-2004 figures do not capture the wages secured as a result of cases referred to litigation.