If you have 100 or more employees or are a federal contractor, you likely must file the EEO-1, VETS-100, or VETS-100A forms. Find out what your obligations are and why the VETS reporting has been delayed in this article from HR Matters.
The deadline is approaching for many employers to report to the federal government the ethnic, racial, gender, and veteran composition of their workforces. Specifically, if you are a covered employer, you must file the Employer Information Report, Form EEO-1, by September 30, 2011. But, thanks to a technical glitch, the VETS-100 and VETS-100A forms are not due until November 30, 2011.
Employer Information Report, Form EEO-1
As a reminder, private employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees and a contract of $50,000 or more are required to submit annual EEO-1 reports to the Joint Reporting Committee (JRC), a committee of the EEOC and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). These reports track employee data by race, ethnicity, sex, and job classification. The EEOC uses the data to support enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and to analyze employment patterns. The OFCCP uses the information to target employers for compliance evaluations.
The EEO-1 must be filed each year by September 30. Employment figures from any pay period in July through September may be used. Online reporting is the preferred method of filing, though employers are permitted to file paper reports.
Currently, there are seven race/ethnicity categories: Hispanic or Latino, White, Black or African-American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. (As you may recall, the EEO-1 report got a major overhaul in 2007 as a result of findings from the 2000 census that increased the number of race/ethnicity categories from five to seven.) To obtain the information, you are directed to ask employees to self-identify voluntarily. If an employee declines to self-identify, you can rely on visual identification of the employee or post-employment records. The EEO-1 instruction booklet includes sample language, in Section 4 of the instructions’ appendix, that you can use in an employee questionnaire on race and ethnicity to explain the EEO-1 voluntary self-identification process.
The EEOC has provided helpful information on the EEO-1 Report on its Web site at https://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/index.cfm, including a a copy of the EEO-1 instruction booklet, online at https://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/upload/instructions_form.pdf
VETS-100 and VETS-100A
Certain federal contractors, regardless of the number of employees, also must file the VETS-100 or VETS-100A form. The VETS-100 and VETS-100A require you to report the number and job classifications of the veterans you employ, and like the EEO-1 report, normally are due September 30. This year, though, because of “technical problems” (according to the special announcement posted on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Veterans’ Employment and Training Service Web site), contractors will not be able to begin filing online until October 1, 2011, and then will have until November 30, 2011, to submit their forms.
Which contractors must file the VETS-100, versus the VETS-100 A, is a bit confusing, however, thanks to a statutory increase in the contract threshold size that was formally implemented in 2008. The contract threshold size was increased from $25,000 to $100,000 by the 2002 Jobs for Veterans Act, which initially was scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2003. The law also changed the categories of veterans covered that employers must report. However, the DOL did not issue implementing regulations until May 2008, and as a result, the $100,000 threshold and new reporting categories were not implemented until 2008.
According to the regulations, found in 29 C.F.R part 61-250, the VETS-100 form must be filed only by federal contractors with current contracts of at least $25,000 entered into before December 1, 2003. Federal contractors that entered into a contract of at least $100,000 or more on or after December 1, 2003, must file the VETS-100A according to regulations found in 29 C.F.R. part 61-300. Further, contractors that modified contracts entered into before December 1, 2003, and the modified contracts are now worth $100,000 or more also must file the new VETS-100A.
Employment figures from any one pay period ending between July 1 and August 31 of the current year may be used for the VETS forms. As with the EEO-1 report, online reporting is the preferred method of filing, though employers are permitted to file paper reports. If you have questions about either the VETS-100 or VETS-100A, you may direct them to the VETS-100 Help Desk at (866) 237-0275 or via e-mail to VETS100-customersupport@dol.gov. Information about the filing requirements and sample forms from 2010 are available online at https://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/fcp/main.htm
Additional Resources provided by HR Matters:
- Download a free Equal Employment Opportunity model policy including HR best practices and legal background – you will need to create a free access account to download the information.
- Contact them TODAY to at (800) 274-6774 to order the CD of their Audio Conference being held today on the Federal Contractor’s Affirmative Action Plan: How to Prepare for New OFCCP Enforcement mention Conference Code PPSE.
This article is being republished with permission.
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