EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION
Data Preparation for Affirmative Action and EEO Reporting
Many organizations are required to prepare Affirmative Action Plans for federal compliance purposes. A variety of software programs are available to assist the Human Resource professional in preparing these plans simply and efficiently. One of the most important components of the plan, however, is the quality and accuracy of the underlying data.
Some of the challenging issues involved in preparing the Affirmative Action Plan include:
- Careful data verification in establishing workforce counts
- Meaningful construction of benchmarks, taking into account occupation, recruiting areas, and other relevant factors
- Correctly interpreting census definitions, and incorporating other public and private data sources if appropriate
- Hiring and applicant analyses that appropriately considers "who is an applicant"
Preparing an accurate plan is important. In addition to its use in federal compliance, some organizations have found that their Affirmative Action Plans have been used by plaintiffs filing lawsuits against the organization. Inaccuracies or incorrect interpretations, such as not carefully defining benchmarks, or reporting incorrect workforce counts, can cause future problems.
Employment Research Corporation has evaluated human resources data for organizations in many different industries, has been a consultant to government agencies including the EEOC, OFCCP and the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor and has been a consultant to lawyers representing plaintiffs and defendants.
