Applicant Tracking System's OFCCP Compliance is Misleading

On July 10, 2008 the OFCCP set a directive to federal contractors, effective immediately, that stated:

“All compliance evaluations shall include a review of the contractor's online application systems to ensure that the contractor is providing equal opportunity to qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. The review should include whether the contractor is providing reasonable accommodation, when requested, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship. In this directive, the term "online system" shall include, but not be limited to, all electronic or web-based systems that the contractor uses in all of its personnel activities.”

The obligation falls under Section 503 and the Title 1 of ADA.

“Implementing these regulations require that contractors provide equal opportunity to qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. In addition, the contractor agrees to take affirmative action to employ and advance these individuals, including, but not limited to, "recruitment, advertising, and job application procedures."

These job application procedures include Online Application Systems.

“In response to changing technologies, many contractors have moved towards using an online application system as their primary, if not exclusive, method for accepting applications for employment. While some of these systems may be accessible to individuals with disabilities, others may be completely inaccessible or only partially accessible due to technological limitations. “Irrespective of the level of accessibility of the online application system, federal contractors and subcontractors must ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans have an equal opportunity for employment.”

Over the past few months there has been much discussion about this new directive.

The Applicant Tracking System (ATS) companies have not included accessibility in their development of their software. The problem lies in ATS companies’ misunderstanding of OFCCP compliance. When the question is asked to ATS companies if their software is OFCCP compliant, they state, “Yes, we have OFCCP reporting capabilities”. When asked if they are accessible, the common answer is “Yes, we can provide reporting”, or they state that they have no idea what accessibility means.

Because OFCCP is questioned, the ATS companies immediately assume it is about reporting. It is very misleading to the companies who work with government contracts and must have Accessibility Compliance. Quite often, we find that both the contractor and the ATS companies do not know enough about what accessibility is to ask the right questions to make sure they are on the same page. This causes ATS companies to mislead their clients, because reporting and accessibility are two completely different directives. It is important that companies make sure that the Applicant Tracking System they use is Accessible and OFCCP compliant. There are companies, like HirePotential, that exist to help you and your ATS Company become Accessible and OFFCP Compliant.