On September 24, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs published a Final Rule in the Federal Register that makes changes to the regulations implementing the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act, as amended (VEVRAA) at 41 CFR Part 60-300.
VEVRAA prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment against protected veterans and requires these employers to take affirmative action to recruit, hire, promote, and retain these veterans. Generally, VEVRAA requires Federal contractors and subcontractors to annually report on the total number of their employees who belong to the categories of veterans protected under VEVRAA and the total number of those protected veterans who were hired during the period covered by the report. The new rule strengthens the affirmative action provisions of the regulations to aid contractors in their efforts to recruit and hire protected veterans and improve job opportunities for protected veterans.
This Final Rule rescinds the regulations that prescribe the reporting requirements applicable to Government contracts and subcontracts entered into before December 1, 2003 because those regulations are now obsolete. The new regulations require that contractors establish annual hiring benchmarks for protected veterans. They also require that contractors document and update annually several quantitative comparisons for the number of veterans who apply for jobs and the number of veterans they hire. Having this data will assist contractors in measuring the effectiveness of their outreach and recruitment efforts. Further, the Final Rule revises regulations that address the definitions of terms used in the regulations, the text of the reporting requirements clause included in Government contracts and subcontracts, and the methods of filing the annual report on veterans’ employment. Contractors and subcontractors will have to comply with the reporting requirements in the Final Rule beginning with the annual report filed in 2015.
Dates: Effective Date: This rule is effective October 27, 2014.