4/4/18
The annual Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) hiring benchmark was updated on the VEVRAA Benchmark Database. The new benchmark—6.4 percent—became effective March 31, 2018.
Background. Effective March 24, 2014, contractors required by VEVRAA to develop a written affirmative action program (AAP) must also establish a hiring benchmark for protected veterans each year or adopt the national benchmark provided by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Under either approach, contractors must compare the percentage of employees who are protected veterans in each of their establishments to the hiring benchmark set for that establishment.
Application of benchmarks. The benchmark applies only to hiring data and does not need to be applied to each AAP job group. The OFCCP has repeatedly made clear that failing to meet the benchmark is not a violation of the regulations and will not carry any penalties. Rather, contractors should use the result of this comparison when assessing the effectiveness of their veteran outreach and recruitment efforts. However, the OFCCP has also emphasized that failure to set the benchmark and meet the data collection, analysis, and recordkeeping requirements related to this benchmark does violate the regulations.
National and state information has also been updated in the VEVRAA Benchmark Database for federal contractors and subcontractors that calculate an individualized hiring benchmark using the five-factor method.
Source: DOL.gov; CCH/Wolters Kluwer
