The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has eliminated longstanding disability compliance requirements — including self-identification, utilization analyses, and applicant tracking — for implementing the nondiscrimination and affirmative action requirements under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.
OFCCP’s Final Rule, which takes effect September 21, eliminates: (1) any requirement for employers to solicit disability status from job applicants or employees; (2) the disability utilization analysis; and (3) employers’ assessment of outreach efforts using disability applicant and hire data. All other Section 503 requirements remain intact.
The final rule will appear in the Federal Register on August 21, alongside OFCCP’s long-awaited rules formally rescinding the agency’s Executive Order 11246 regulations and making administrative changes to agency regulations implementing Section 4212 of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.
Federal contractors will no longer have a statutory or regulatory basis to solicit disability status from applicants before making a job offer. The Americans with Disabilities Act and the EEOC’s implementing regulations will govern post-offer disability inquiries and other employee inquiries. Federal contractors should prepare to sunset any electronic or paper pre-offer disability inquiries.
Click here to read more from the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association.