We are aware of some highly questionable OFCCP compliance claims being made that clearly raises questions about certain vendors’ understanding of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA), as amended by the Jobs for Veterans Act of 2002 (JVA), OFCCP compliance, and how state workforce systems work.

For example, a national recruitment ad agency service claims it “…has the ability to directly post to all state job boards…”

Another example is from a job distributor, which claims to be an industry leader stating: “The competitive advantage of our solution is that your jobs will be entered directly into a state’s system, whereas other services may rely on fax or email, both of which are time consuming and expensive, and both of which leave your organization’s compliance completely in the hands of the workers at the state agencies.”

The same job distributor says, “Clients who use (Product A) or (Product B) can access our existing network of State Workforce Agencies. Our alliances with two key technology providers, (Provider A) and (Provider B), will allow us to directly submit your jobs to 17 states. This is the optimal method of transmission.”

They continued, “Our investigations have shown that there is a good chance that job postings submitted in this manner will not be retained or used after they are received. The key benefit to working through (vendor’s) system is that jobs entered will be more likely to receive referrals from job counselors during the life of the opening, and your organization will be able to better prove compliance in the event of an audit.”

Over the last eighteen months, through our alliance with the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), DirectEmployers Association has signed data-sharing agreements with forty states and at least four others are expected to sign in the near future. In states where we do not have data-sharing agreements and states that do not have the technology or manpower in place to take downloads directly into their job banks, compliance is achieved by electronic delivery of jobs to their local Career One Stop offices.

During this time we have worked, and are continuing to work, closely with state workforce agency program and technology staff. Through our experience in working with the states, we know that a majority of state workforce agencies are not currently in a position to accept job postings directly into their job banks. Web-delivery to only a few states is not acceptable for most companies needing OFCCP compliance. JobCentral’s fax and email systems function as a necessary alternative to web-delivery and both are electronic, highly automated, and inexpensive.

In working directly with NASWA and its member agencies we assure you that fax or email to a local Career One Stop is currently the only method of delivery, and therefore compliance, available in many states. JobCentral and NASWA continue to work closely with state workforce agency staff to ultimately have all state workforce agencies accept web-enabled downloads. Some states have requested delivery only by fax or email to their local offices and have no other method of accepting job postings. Obviously, if jobs cannot be entered directly into most state systems, which is contrary to the vendor’s claims, jobs sent to the states by the vendor are NOT more likely to receive referrals from job counselors, and your organization will NOT be in a better position to prove compliance in the event of an audit.

The OFCCP has clearly stated that, “A contractor remains responsible for ensuring that its job listings are received by the appropriate employment service delivery system, whether the contractor submits job listings directly to the appropriate employment service delivery system, or uses a third party to deliver the job listings on its behalf.”

When using a third party, the contractor must provide documentation that it submitted its job listings to the third-party, and that the third-party forwarded the job listings to the appropriate employment service delivery system (emphasis added). Documentation regarding the latter effort may include, but is not limited to, the following: an e-mail, fax, or regular mail transmission receipt from the third-party showing that the job listing had been forwarded to the employment service delivery system, or telephone records documenting communications between the third-party and the appropriate employment service delivery system.

JobCentral National Labor Exchange, through its VetCentral Federal Contractor Job Listing (FCJL) program, provides federal contractors an online, detailed, real-time report showing date, time, place and delivery confirmation of your federal contractor job listings. If, for any reason you are not using VetCentral, please make sure your job distributor or recruitment ad agency can provide a level of job delivery, reporting and confirmation that is fully compliant with OFCCP regulations.

Comments(0)