Fastenal will pay $168,000 and make 24 job offers to affected applicants

During a routine affirmative action compliance review, the OFCCP determined that Fastenal Co. discriminated against female applicants for laborers and helper positions. Fastenal has agreed to resolve the systemic gender-based hiring discrimination that impacted 483 female job applicants at its High Point location from December 7, 2016, through July 31, 2018.

Fastenal will pay $168,000 in back wages and interest to the affected applicants and make 24 job offers, as positions become available. The company also agreed to ensure that its selection process, personnel practices, and hiring policies are free from discrimination, and its recordkeeping methods meet legal requirements.

In OFCCP’s press release of this settlement, they also reported that the agency recovered over $116 million for more than 138,000 employees and job applicants from affirmative action compliance reviews from October 2016 through September 2020.

OutSolve’s Take

According to the Pre-Determination Notice (PDN) regulations, the OFCCP is supposed to “…Identify the specific policy or practice causing the adverse impact, unless the elements of the contractor’s procedures are incapable of separation for analysis. According to the Conciliation Agreement (CA) with Fastenal, “OFCCP found a statistically significant disparity, not otherwise explained, in the hiring of employees in the Laborers and Helpers job group based on gender.”

No indication of what “policy or practice” led to the “statistically significant disparity”. Perhaps the OFCCP didn’t issue a PDN? The CA does include a lengthy section on “Modification to Employment Practices and Recordkeeping”, but it is all prospective (i.e., “[r]eview and revise, if necessary, in writing, the practices, policies, and procedures it uses to select applicants for the Laborers and Helpers job group positions”), but doesn’t identify any specific policy or practice that may have led to the “statistically significant disparity” in hiring.

Clients are reminded that Affirmative Action programs are a management tool, providing insight and information necessary to ensuring affirmative action and equal employment opportunity. An Affirmative Action Program that is prepared in a timely manner and reviewed by appropriate levels of management is an important first step in identifying and addressing potential problem areas.

To learn more about how you can safeguard your company against compliance violations, or how to develop an affirmative action program, please contact OutSolve at info@outsolve.com or 888-414.2410.