OFCCP Sends Survey Form for Individuals with Disabilities to OMB

OFCCP’s revised regulations regarding individuals with disabilities state that the agency will provide the survey form that federal contractors and subcontractors are to use to survey individuals with disabilities. That form has now been sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The form can be found at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAICList?ref_nbr=201307-1250-001. (Click on the "Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability" to open the actual form.)  OMB must approve this form before OFCCP can require its use by federal contractors and subcontractors. Once approved by OMB, companies will be required to use this specific form to survey individuals with disabilities.

It appears that the survey form currently available at OMB’s website would be used to survey both applicants and employees. The requirement to survey applicants is a new requirement under the revised regulations. Companies will need to start using OFCCP’s prescribed survey form either on March 24, 2014 or at the time that affirmative action plans (AAPs) are being updated after that date. For example, a company that has an affirmative action plan for individuals with disabilities that is updated each year in January would begin using OFCCP’s prescribed form on January 1, 2015.

The version of the survey form currently at OMB has no place for the name of an applicant or employee. OFCCP Director Patricia Shiu was asked about this on October 18 when she appeared at the National Employment Law Institute’s affirmative action briefing in Washington, DC. Ms. Shiu and OFCCP Policy Division Branch Chief Naomi Levin responded that they expected companies would associate the name of an applicant or employee with the form. Ms. Shiu and Ms. Levin also indicated that the form is still under review by OMB and may undergo changes before it is released for use by federal contractors and subcontractors.

The current version of the form appears to have another item that will need to be modified before its final release. While the form states that companies “are required to invite...employees to self-identify each year,” the revised regulations actually require companies to conduct a survey of the entire workforce every five years. Companies must conduct an initial re-survey within one year of the time that the regulations become effective or their affirmative action plans are updated.

Patricia Shui Appears at NELI conference

OFCCP head Patricia Shiu made an appearance on Friday at the National Employment Law Institute conference in Washington DC.  She took questions in a variety of topics, including the survey form for persons with disabilities that was recently released to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  She indicated that the form, which does not include a place for applicant or employee name, should, in fact, be tied to individual applicants and employees.