Recruiting Compliance 

As a university, UCSD is obligated to adhere to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor. The OFCCP is responsible for ensuring that employers doing business as a Federal contractor comply with the laws and regulations requiring nondiscrimination.

The OFCCP has close working relationships with other Departmental agencies, such as:

• Department of Justice – ensure fair and impartial administration of justice
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – enforces civil rights laws against workplace discrimination
• Women’s Bureau – emphasizes the needs of working women

These are the rules, regulations, and policy that shapes our academic recruitment process. The OFCCP uses these laws and regulations when reviewing our workforce, processes, and activities to ensure that we are being fair and compliant. The OFCCP can also request an onsite audit to come to campus to review records, review employment conditions and interview decision makers or recordkeepers on the decisions made throughout the recruitment process. Even with good intent, these regulations can still be violated. Our role is to assist you in navigating these complexities to a compliant recruitment.

Federal Laws prohibiting discrimination:

• Executive Order 11246 – equal opportunity for all persons (race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran)
• Section 503 – prohibits discrimination against people with physical or mental disability
• The Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act – requires employers to recruit, hire, promote, and retain veterans

For more Federal anti-discrimination laws, click here.

State Laws prohibiting discrimination:

• California Proposition 209 – no discrimination or preference based on race, color, gender, etc.
• California Fair Employment and Housing Act – no discrimination based on race or color; religion; national origin or ancestry, physical disability; mental disability or medical condition; marital status; sex or sexual orientation; age, with respect to persons over the age of 40; and pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions
• Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) – Postdoc Scholars are classified as employees

UC System:

• University of California Policy – apply every good faith effort to achieve prompt and full utilization of minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans
• Bargaining unit agreements – union contracts for represented employees in PX, RX, IX (Unit 18)

The goal of audits is to ensure contractors are adhering to non-discriminatory practices. Auditors look for violations like:

• Inadequate records to defend applicant flow and interview practices
• Discriminatory decision-making processes for hiring, promotions, terminations, etc.
• Compensation disparities that can’t be explained

The top three violations fell under the following categories:

• Recordkeeping
• Recruiting
• Affirmative Action Plans

What will happen if UCSD is non-compliant?

• Loss of grants/funding
• Conciliations: expensive, mandatory, labor intense, may garner negative press

Recruitment records should be preserved in a centralized location so that they are readily accessible to the individuals who are responding to any OFCCP audit request. If the department has destroyed or failed to preserve records, there may be a presumption by the auditor that the information destroyed or not preserved would have been unfavorable to the department. Also, if the OFCCP recordkeeping obligation is not met, campus be fined for each offense. According to the OFCCP, if it is not documented, it did not happen.

Recordkeeping violations include “any personnel or employment records” (print or electronic) such as:

• Applications, additional documents required from applicants, etc.
• Records relating to hiring, terminations, promotions, transfers, and demotions
• Rates of pay
• Job advertisements and postings
• Failing to review applicants who applied prior to the final date of a recruitment if shortlist or search reports are submitted after the final date of the recruitment

Other categories of documentations:

• Employee self-identification forms
• All “expressions of interest” in employment
• Employment or assessment tests, and test results and validation materials supporting these tests
• “Interview notes”
• De/Selection statements (via disposition reasons and/or comments) for all applicants.

Contractors must prove that each piece of documentation adheres to all regulation requirements.

Other frequently found violation was centered around outreach to underrepresented minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans. Federal contractors are required to do good faith efforts to reach under represented applicants. The obligation also states that outreach efforts should be reviewed and evaluated for effectiveness.

Questions to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of the outreach activities include:

• Did the activity attract qualified underrepresented minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans?
• Did the activity result in the hiring of qualified underrepresented minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans?
• Did the activity expand outreach in the community?

If source underperforms and applicants fail to respond to job postings, contractors are expected to use a different source, or other outlet that targets specific groups. Full recruitments should be open for 365 days. Non senate recruitments should be open for a minimum of at least 60 days to ensure outreach efforts can be fully implemented. However, OARS recommends keeping non senate searches open for 365 days as well. Recruitments can always be closed earlier but cannot extend the final date. 

The OFCCP expects the university to analyze their selection process according to the Uniform Employee Selection Guidelines. These guidelines were adopted through an agreement with the EEOC, Office of Personnel Management, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Treasury Department and the OFCCP.

The guidelines were designed to aid in the achievement of our nation’s goal of equal employment opportunity without discrimination on the grounds of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin.

The Uniform Employee Selection Procedure (Guidelines):

• Call for records to be kept and determinations of adverse impact to be made of the overall selection process on a job-by-job basis.
• The use of any selection process which has an adverse impact on the hiring, promotion, or other employment or membership opportunities of members of any race, sex, or ethnic group maybe considered to be discriminatory.

UCSD Academics who need to go through open recruitment:

• Titles with no end date
• Required by bargaining agreement contracts
• IX (Unit 18), PX, RA
• Any new hire with UC Path
• Employees without student status
• Any positions over 0% FTE in UC Path
• Paid