Breaking News: OFCCP Announces Enforcement Policy Affording Contractors 90 Additional Days to Fully Implement New Internet Applicant Regulations

OFCCP recently announced an enforcement policy that will provide contractors up to 90 additional days to implement applicant tracking systems in compliance with the new Internet Applicant regulations, which become effective on February 6, 2006. OFCCP representatives recently distributed a PowerPoint presentation in which the Agency explained that it “will not cite a contractor for a purely technical recordkeeping violation for failure to comply with the final rule [by the February 6, 2006 deadline] provided that the contractor: (1) demonstrates that it is taking reasonable steps to update its systems to comply with the new rule, including a projected date of compliance; and (2) collects and maintains records according to the established procedures consistent with OFCCP’s recordkeeping requirements that preexisted the Internet Applicant final rule.”

OFCCP’s enforcement practice prior to the new regulations was to accept as compliant any system that collected race and gender information from candidates before the interview stage of the hiring process. This is a welcome development that will give contractors some “breathing room” to implement applicant tracking and recordkeeping systems needed to comply with the new regulations.

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