Affirmative Action

SW

Can anyone tell me if we will be required to have an affirmative action plan and/or point me to a reference site? We are a state certified nursing facility and will soon be a skilled nursing facility, which means we will be receiving medicare payments from the federal government. I believe that will qualify us as a federal contractor, so if we have over $50,000 in medicare payments I think we will have to have an affirmative action plan. I'm getting contradicting information. Some sources say that medicare does not qualify as a federal contract, but others say that it does.

Any advice would be appreciated.

scottorr

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-05-03 AT 06:57AM (CST)[/font][p]I used to work for a company that received medicare and medicaid payments that far exceeded $50,000 and we were not required to have an affirmative action plan. We used to have people come in off the street and try and tell us that we had to give them a job because of affirmative action. Let me qualify this statement by saying we were a visiting nurse association not a certified nursing facility.

HS

I don't know for sure if you would qualify under a federal contractor, but here is a website you may want to check out:

[url]http://www.dol.gov/esa/ofccp/[/url]

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

Margaret Morford

I have a client that does exactly what you do in seven states and they have to have Affirmative Action Plans. We are frantically getting those together for them as they have had the OFCCP camped on their doorstep and it's just moving from one state to the other auditing them.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

System

Every state certified nursing facility in the nation has a retained attorney. I suggest you ask him/her this question. It is his job to ensure you do not run afoul of the law. He knows your charter, your state laws, the federal law, the degree of state/federal scrutiny you bow to in certification and licensing practice and what your funding sources are and how they impact your obligations. His research will cost you $200 at most, if a dime.

SW

Thanks for the advice. I have an e-mail in the regional OFCCP office, just waiting for their reply. We did ask our attorney and she said we would need one. However, two other SNF facilities in our area (of similar size) were told they did not. I just want to be absolutely sure before I undertake this project because I know how much time is involved. (I worked with an AAP at a prior employer.)

I'll report back whatever I hear from th OFCCP. Thanks again.