The U.S. Department of Labor has made a final ruling to apply changes to implementation of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act intended to ensure that retired servicemen have access to equal employment opportunities.The declaration of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs will take effect six months from the time it is issued in the Federal Register, the DOL said Tuesday.
Amendments on the VEVRAA are intended to reinforce the affirmative action of contractors in compliance to rules that prevent protected veterans from being discriminated when they apply for jobs.
The final ruling calls for employers to set benchmarks for hired protected veterans based mainly on OFCCP standards or from records of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Veterans’ Employment and Training Service/Employment and Training Administration.
Other areas covered in the revised VEVRAA include the following:
- Annual documentation for the number of veteran applications filed and accepted for quantitative comparisons intended to help contractors assess the effectiveness of their recruitment programs
- Contractors need to offer veterans invitations to self-identify in the pre- and post-offer phases of the application as well as include an equal opportunity clause as reference in documentations
- Job listings need to follow a format that meet federal standards to enable local and state agencies to share information for the benefit of job seekers
- All records that relate to veteran application and hiring processes should be available in all formats for OFCCP on-site or off-site reviews
