A functional affirmative action program (also known as a functional affirmative action plan or FAAP) is a type of affirmative action program that is based on a function or business unit rather than a building or location.

Affirmative action programs (affirmative action plans or AAPs) have traditionally been prepared by building or location. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) requires organizations to have separate AAPs for each “establishment” of 50 or more employees. OFCCP defines an “establishment” as a “facility or unit that produces good or services, such as a factory, office, store, or mine.”

A FAAP is structured according to an organization’s function or business line. An organization may have functions such as the finance function, the sales function, or the purchasing function. An organization may have business lines such as the software development business line, the large vehicles business line, or the accounting and audit business line. Functions and business lines depend on how an organization operates and how reporting lines are established.

Yes. OFCCP requires that organizations seeking to use FAAPs rather than establishment-based AAPs must get approval from the agency to do so.

OFCCP has a directive that describes the process to be used to seek approval for a functional affirmative action program agreement. Directive 2013-01 describes the information that must be submitted to OFCCP for a FAAP agreement. An organization requesting to use FAAPs must describe each proposed function or business unit that will have a FAAP, including number of employees and locations associated with the FAAP. The organization must also describe how data will be collected and evaluated so that effective FAAPs can be produced.

A request to move to using FAAPs must be received by OFCCP at least 120 days prior to the expiration of an organization’s current AAPs.

OFCCP permits (and may at times encourage) the use of a combination of FAAPs and establishment-based AAPs. If an organization has self-contained facilities such as a manufacturing plant along with functional units such as a product development function, the organization could request to have both establishment-based and functional affirmative action plans.

Yes. OFCCP compliance evaluations of functional affirmative action programs are much like reviews of establishment-based AAPs. OFCCP examines a functional AAP to ensure that all required components are present and examines summaries of personnel activity data to determine whether there are any disparities.

The process can take several months. However, OFCCP currently wants organizations to move to FAAPs and thus the agency is trying to expedite the approval of FAAP agreements.

No. An organization must be able to produce statistical reports by function or business unit if it intends to prepare functional affirmative action programs.