OFCCP Ends Disability Goal & Self-Identification Requirements

Federal contractors and subcontractors (contractors) face changes to their affirmative action requirements following three Final Rules issued by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) on August 21, 2026. The rules address Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 503), the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), and the regulations implementing Executive Order 11246. While all three rules affect federal contractor obligations, the most significant operational changes involve Section 503, with most changes taking effect September 21, 2026.

Section 503 Changes

Under the Section 503 Final Rule, OFCCP is eliminating the requirement that contractors invite applicants and employees to voluntarily self-identify as individuals with disabilities (IWDs) using Form CC-305. The Final Rule also eliminates the 7% disability utilization goal and related disability data collection and analysis requirements for applicants and hires.

The elimination of Form CC-305 is particularly significant because of OFCCP’s reasoning for the change. In the Final Rule, OFCCP identified a conflict between the Section 503 self-identification requirement and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which generally restricts employers from making disability-related inquiries before a conditional offer of employment. By eliminating the required self-identification process, OFCCP is seeking to remove that tension between Section 503 and the ADA.

Section 503 AAPs Remain

What is not going away is the obligation for covered federal contractors and subcontractors to take affirmative action to employ and advance qualified IWDs, including the requirement for contractors with 50 or more employees and a federal contract or subcontract of $50,000 or more to maintain a written Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) for IWDs. Instead, written AAP requirements under Section 503 are shifting away from quantitative benchmarks and toward a more qualitative, process-based approach focused on policies, practices, outreach, accommodations, and removal of barriers that IWDs may face in employment.

The following questions address the key practical considerations employers should understand as they prepare for the new Section 503 requirements.

What Disability-Related Inquiries May Employers Continue Making After September 21, 2026?

Employers should not assume they can simply replace Form CC-305 with another disability self-identification question. In the Final Rule, the Department of Labor (DOL) took the position that the ADA prohibits employer-initiated disability inquiries before a conditional offer of employment, even when the response is voluntary or the information is sought for affirmative action purposes. The DOL further stated that labeling an inquiry as “voluntary self-identification” does not change that analysis.

The DOL also makes clear, though, that while the requirement to solicit disability status is being removed, the Final Rule does not include any new prohibition barring employers from collecting disability data from their employees. Instead, employers are urged to solicit disability status only if they can do so consistent with ADA law. Employers considering continued disability data collection should consult with legal counsel and evaluate the purpose and timing of the inquiry under the ADA and other applicable legal requirements.

What Does the ADA Require?

The ADA places limits on when employers may ask applicants and employees disability-related questions or require medical examinations. Generally, before making a conditional offer of employment, employers may not ask questions that are likely to reveal whether an applicant has a disability or the nature or severity of a disability.

The rules differ depending on where an individual is in the employment process:

• Pre-offer: Employers may ask whether an applicant can perform specific job functions but may not ask whether the applicant has a disability, request a diagnosis, or inquire about the nature or severity of a medical condition. Employers may ask an applicant to describe or demonstrate how they would perform a job-related function, discuss an accommodation the applicant voluntarily requests for the application or interview process, and, in limited circumstances involving an obvious or voluntarily disclosed disability, ask whether an accommodation may be needed to perform a specific job function.

• Post-offer, pre-employment: After making a conditional offer, employers have greater latitude to make disability-related inquiries or require medical examinations, provided they do so consistently for all entering employees in the same job category.

• During employment: Disability-related inquiries must be job-related and consistent with business necessity. For example, an inquiry may be appropriate when objective evidence gives the employer a reasonable basis to believe a medical condition may affect the employee’s ability to perform essential job functions or create a direct safety threat. Employers may also request limited medical information when needed to evaluate a reasonable accommodation request. Any inquiry should be limited to the information necessary for that purpose rather than seeking an employee’s broader medical history.

What Happens to Disability Data Already Collected?

Employers should continue to protect the disability information that was collected before September 21, 2026, in accordance with ADA and OFCCP confidentiality requirements. Medical and disability information should be maintained confidentially and separately from general personnel records. The elimination of Form CC-305 does not mean previously collected disability data should be moved into an employee’s regular personnel file, discarded, or otherwise handled differently.

Employers should review how historical disability information is stored, who has access to it, and how long it must be retained under applicable recordkeeping requirements. After September 21, 2026, Section 503 will no longer require employers to collect disability self-identification information through Form CC-305. If an employer continues collecting disability information for another lawful purpose, that information should likewise be handled in accordance with applicable ADA confidentiality and recordkeeping requirements.

What Changes for the Written Section 503 AAP?

The written Section 503 AAP requirement remains in place for contractors with 50 or more employees and a federal contract or subcontract of $50,000 or more. However, the content of the AAP will change.

Effective September 21, 2026, contractors are no longer required to conduct the quantitative analyses that relied on disability self-identification data. Specifically, the 7% utilization analysis for individuals with disabilities and the related applicant and hiring data analyses used to measure disability representation and affirmative action efforts will no longer be required components of a Section 503 AAP.

The elimination of the disability utilization goal also means that AAP job groups are no longer required under remaining affirmative action regulations for Section 503 and VEVRAA.

At the same time, contractors must continue the core affirmative action components of their Section 503 programs, including:

• Maintaining and implementing an annual written Section 503 AAP.
• Conducting targeted outreach and recruitment for qualified IWDs.
• Annually assessing the effectiveness of outreach and recruitment efforts.
• Reviewing personnel processes to ensure equal opportunity for applicants and employees with disabilities.
• Maintaining reasonable accommodation practices, including documenting accommodation requests and outcomes, monitoring the interactive process and response timelines, and safeguarding confidential medical information.
• Communicating the organization’s disability affirmative action and equal opportunity commitments internally.
• Training personnel involved in recruitment, screening, selection, promotion, disciplinary, and related processes to ensure the commitments in the AAP are implemented.
• Maintaining required Section 503 equal opportunity clause flow-downs in covered subcontracts and purchase orders that exceed the applicable $20,000 coverage threshold.
• Providing written notification of the company’s affirmative action policy to subcontractors, vendors, and suppliers and requesting appropriate action on their part.
• Maintaining required records and an audit and reporting system to evaluate implementation of the AAP.

In short, the Section 503 AAP is moving away from measuring disability representation against numerical benchmarks and toward documenting the employer’s processes and affirmative action efforts.

How Can Employers Measure Effectiveness Without the 7% Goal?

OFCCP is not replacing the 7% disability utilization goal with another numerical benchmark. Instead, contractors must annually evaluate the outreach and recruitment efforts conducted during the previous 12 months, document the criteria used to assess each effort, and determine whether those efforts were effective in identifying and recruiting qualified IWDs. If the totality of those efforts is not effective, contractors must identify and implement alternative outreach strategies.

Employers may consider factors such as:

• The strength and frequency of partnerships with disability-focused recruiting organizations.
• The accessibility of recruiting materials, career sites, and online application systems.
• Whether job requirements or hiring practices create unnecessary barriers.
• How effectively reasonable accommodation requests are handled.
• Whether managers and recruiters receive appropriate training.
• What changes the organization makes after reviewing the effectiveness of its outreach and employment practices.

The focus is no longer on reaching a particular percentage, but on maintaining reasonable, documented criteria that show the employer is actively evaluating its affirmative action efforts and adjusting when those efforts are not effective.

How Should Employers Transition to the New AAP Content Requirements?

The Final Rule does not provide detailed guidance on how contractors should handle Section 503 AAPs that were prepared before September 21, 2026, are still being completed, or have plan years that extend beyond the effective date. Because AAPs are effective for 12 months, it is reasonable to conclude that AAPs beginning before September 21^st would include the disability utilization analysis and goal, as well as disability applicant and hiring data, while AAPs beginning after September 21^st would not. Employers with AAPs that are effective but still in development as of September 21^st should consult with their HR Works AA/EEO consultant or legal counsel to determine how best to document the transition.

Other Section 503 Changes to Note

The Final Rule makes several technical changes to the Section 503 regulations as well. It updates the basic Section 503 coverage threshold from $15,000 to $20,000, reflecting an inflation adjustment that took effect October 1, 2025. This is separate from the threshold for maintaining a written Section 503 AAP.

The Final Rule also incorporates Section 503 administrative enforcement procedures directly into the regulations, separating them from the now-rescinded EO 11246 enforcement procedures. To avoid a gap in those procedures, the removal of the former shared enforcement rules at 41 CFR Part 60-30 will not take effect until December 21, 2026.

Additional Changes Affecting Federal Contractors

OFCCP published two additional Final Rules on August 21, 2026, that impact federal contractors.

VEVRAA

The VEVRAA Final Rule primarily makes technical and conforming changes following the revocation of EO 11246. It removes references to the former EO 11246 enforcement procedures and incorporates those procedures directly into the VEVRAA regulations. It also updates the VEVRAA regulations to reflect the current $200,000 coverage threshold, which took effect October 1, 2025, as part of a federal inflation adjustment.

Importantly, contractors that remain covered by VEVRAA must continue their affirmative action obligations for protected veterans, including applicable written AAP and veteran self-identification requirements. The annual VETS-4212 Report also remains in place for covered federal contractors and subcontractors with at least one current federal contract or subcontract of $200,000 or more.

Executive Order 11246

A separate Final Rule formally rescinds the EO 11246 implementing regulations following the Executive Order’s revocation in January 2025. This administratively removes the former federal contractor requirements for race- and sex-based AAPs, utilization analyses and placement goals, as well as other EO 11246-specific requirements involving contract clauses, recordkeeping and OFCCP enforcement. The Final Rule is effective October 26, 2026.

The rescission does not eliminate employers’ obligations under independently applicable non-discrimination laws, including Title VII, or other reporting requirements such as EEO-1 reporting where applicable. It also does not eliminate the separate affirmative action and written AAP requirements that continue under Section 503 for individuals with disabilities and VEVRAA for protected veterans for covered contractors. Employers should evaluate state and local laws and contractual obligations before discontinuing demographic data collection or related practices.

Recommended Next Steps for Employers

Federal contractors and subcontractors should begin preparing now for the September 21, 2026, Section 503 changes.

• Review Self-Identification and Data Collection Practices. Discontinue Form CC-305 by September 21, 2026, and coordinate necessary applicant tracking and human resource information system changes. Continue applicable protected veteran self-identification under VEVRAA and confirm whether race, sex, or other demographic information must still be collected for EEO-1 reporting, state or local requirements, contractual obligations, internal auditing, or other lawful purposes. Do not replace Form CC-305 with another voluntary disability inquiry without evaluating ADA requirements and consulting legal counsel.

• Ensure AAPs Beginning after September 21^st Conform to Ongoing Requirements. Discontinue including the 7% disability utilization analysis and related disability applicant and hiring data analyses in Section 503 AAPs while retaining the continuing affirmative action requirements for individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.

• Document Outreach Effectiveness. Establish a consistent process for annually evaluating disability outreach using reasonable, qualitative criteria and documenting changes when efforts are not effective.

• Review Accommodation and Training Practices. Confirm that reasonable accommodation procedures remain effective and that HR, recruiters, managers, and other personnel involved in employment decisions understand updated Section 503 requirements, ADA inquiry rules, and recordkeeping responsibilities.

• Protect Historical Disability Data. Ensure previously collected disability and medical information remains confidential, separate from general personnel records, and retained in accordance with applicable requirements.

• Reassess Workforce Groupings. Determine what groupings remain appropriate for compensation, disparity, and other nondiscrimination analyses now that AAPs no longer require job groups for utilization analyses.

• Update Contractor and Vendor Communications. Review Section 503 equal opportunity clause flow-down language and continue required written notifications to subcontractors, vendors, and suppliers.

How HR Works Can Help

The new regulations simplify some aspects of federal contractor compliance, but they also require employers to rethink longstanding processes, particularly how they demonstrate affirmative action for individuals with disabilities without relying on self-identification statistics.

HR Works can help clients update their Section 503 AAPs, identify processes that should be discontinued or retained, revise self-identification and vendor practices, review training and reasonable accommodation processes, assess outreach efforts, and develop new approaches for measuring program effectiveness. HR Works can also assist employers in determining appropriate workforce groupings for ongoing compensation, disparity, and other non-discrimination analyses following the elimination of the former AAP job group structure.

Current clients should contact their designated AA/EEO Consultant for assistance with preparing for the changes. Not an HR Works client? To learn more about how HR Works can support your organization, visit our website and complete a “Contact Us” form or call us toll-free at 1-877-219-9062.

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