FAQs

Obligations

• What is the source of my legal obligation to maintain an affirmative action plan?
• What elements are required in my plan?
• What statistical analyses are necessary?
• What must the narrative include?

What is the source of my legal obligation to maintain an affirmative action plan?

Affirmative action requirements for federal contractors first were imposed in an Executive Order issued by President Johnson the 1960s. Executive Order 11246 established an agency, now called the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and housed within the Department of Labor, to issue affirmative action law regulations implementing the general contractor responsibilities described in the Order. The exact source of Presidential authority to issue this Order has been debated over the years.* Courts interpreting affirmative action law, however, have rejected challenges to this authority during the past four decades.
 
* For a good summary, see the U.S. Supreme Courts opinion and summary of affirmative action law in Chrysler Corp. v. Brown, 441 U.S. 281, 304-06 (1979).

What elements are required in my plan?

An affirmative action plan includes two major components that are well established in affirmative action law: a statistical analysis and a narrative. In the statistical analysis, your workforce is classified into job groups and the treatment of female and minority employees is assessed. The narrative section reviews the outcome of the statistical analysis and sets forth the steps you will take to fulfill your commitment to affirmative action.

What statistical analyses are necessary?

Specific, detailed requirements for the statistical component of a plan are imposed in affirmative action law regulations. The centerpiece is a "utilization analysis" comparing the proportion of existing female and minority employees in each job group to "availability," which is the proportion of female and minority employees that would be expected in these jobs. The utilization analysis involves several steps spelled out in relevant affirmative action law, including the development of appropriate job groups, the derivation of availability from sources such as census data and internal promotion records, and the statistical comparison of the workforce distribution to underlying availability. Affirmative action law also requires contractors to analyze other aspects of the employment process, including hires, promotions, terminations, and compensation.

What must the narrative include?

The required components of the narrative are set forth in the affirmative action law regulations. A critical aspect of the narrative is the "identification of problem areas," in which the contractor reviews the various statistical analyses, identifies shortcomings, establishes goals, and describes actions that will be taken to pursue these goals. Other portions of the narrative describe various procedures that the contractor will put into place to ensure equal employment opportunity.

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