(1) A successful compliance review (audit) of the Affirmative Action Program ends at the desk audit stage. If the OFCCP walks away and closes the audit, that’s a successful audit. Occasionally the OFCCP finds items they are concerned with in the desk audit. In those cases, if you’ve been cooperative, they may let you address the items of concern before issuing the findings and then they’ll close the review and be on their way to the next company. The OFCCP will be gone for at least two years. Working with the OFCCP is a delicate matter. Be cooperative, honest and attentive (And, if you have a consultant with experience, be strategic).
(2) If the audit goes into a site visit…well there’s some headaches ahead. They’ll be on your site, requesting a meeting with the top company officer, asking for files to review, conducting interviews with employees, checking for your visible compliance evidence and more. More what? More review of materials than would have ended at the site visit. If the compliance review ends there, great!
(3) If the compliance review ends in a conciliation agreement then you’ve got a year or two of some additional planning, diligent tracking and periodic reporting to the OFCCP. The time committed to any of these activities is worth mentioning…it will use up a lot of time that could have easily gone to other assignments. It’ll seem like the two years of oversight by the OFCCP never comes to an end.
(4) If the compliance review ends with a lawsuit… well it really doesn’t end, does it?
