FAQ Clarifies Storage Options For Disability Self-Identification

OFCCP has posted a new FAQ detailing the acceptable options for a contractor in documenting the voluntary invitation to self-identify as an individual with a disability. Based on contractors’ varying technology capabilities and practices, the FAQ provides four options for storing the invitation or the resulting data.

• Paper Invitations: Contractors utilizing a paper invitation must retain hard copies or electronic copies of each of the completed paper forms. Additionally, any log, spreadsheet, or database that is developed to record the resulting data must be retained.
• Electronic Invitations: Contractors utilizing an electronic invitation have three options from which to choose.
  • Retain electronic copies (e.g., pdf, scanned, etc.) of the electronically completed form. Additionally, any log, spreadsheet, or database that is developed to record the resulting data must be retained.
  • Retain hard copies of the electronically completed forms. Additionally, any log, spreadsheet, or database that is developed to record the resulting data must be retained.
  • Retain a detailed log, spreadsheet, or database of the data collected from each completed form. However if the contractor’s electronic system does not store individual completed forms, verifying how the form was delivered/displayed is critical to demonstrating compliance with using the OMB-approved form.

The clarification provided by this FAQ is particularly welcomed given the confusion noted at the 2014 NILG conference between contractors and OFCCP representatives related to the recordkeeping obligations for the disability identification form. At that time, OFCCP indicated a desire for receiving snapshots of each completed form, rather than a log, spreadsheet, or database containing the response data resulting from the form completion.

As previously noted by DCI, requiring a snapshot of the actual completed form is seemingly incongruent with the recordkeeping regulations, which require a data analysis file, and not a paper copy of each form:

§60-741.42   Invitation to self-identify.

(e)The contractor shall keep all information on self-identification confidential, and shall maintain it in a data analysis file (rather than in the medical files of individual employees). See §60-741.23(d). The contractor shall provide self-identification information to OFCCP upon request. Self-identification information may be used only in accordance with this part.

The recordkeeping options detailed in the new FAQ appear to more consistently align with the regulatory requirements, as well as, allow for efficient documentation of compliance within the variety of practices and capabilities found in contractors’ technology systems.

By Jana Garman, M.A., Consultant and Joanna Colosimo, Senior Consultant, DCI Consulting Group