OFCCP proposes benchmarks for hiring veterans as part of Affirmative Action Plans

May 03, 2011

On April 26, 2011, OFCCP published a proposed rule which would require subject federal contractors to obtain data regarding veterans in the civilian labor force and set benchmarks for the hiring of qualified veterans as part of their Affirmative Action program. The rule would apply to federal contractors with a federal contract valued at $100,000 or more.

Although subject federal contractors have always maintained Affirmative Action Plans or “AAPs” for qualified veterans and disabled veterans under VEVRAA, this potentially represents a significant change in Affirmative Action compliance. Previously, AAPs were not required to contain a statistical component for veterans. Rather, a contractor was simply required to commit to taking certain steps to increase the employment of covered veterans as part of its narrative AAP.

Under OFCCPs’ proposed rule, among other steps, subject contractors would be required to:

• Establish hiring benchmarks for veterans, expressed as a percentage of total hires which the contractor seeks to hire over the upcoming 12 months. Contractors would need to develop data on veterans from a variety of sources, including data made available by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the state employment service.
• Solicit veteran status from all applicants at the pre-offer stage to determine whether veterans are covered veterans, although not requesting that they identify their basis for veteran status (i.e. veteran, disabled veteran, etc.). In compliance with the ADA, information relating to disabled veteran status would be solicited post-offer.
• Document and maintain referral data on veterans.
• Provide the state employment service with information relating to its status as a federal contractor, the contact information for the hiring official, etc.
• Evaluate their outreach and recruitment efforts for veterans over the previous 12 months.

As the above highlights illustrate, contractors would be required to take significant steps beyond what they are currently doing as part of their Affirmative Action Plan for covered veterans. While contractors should keep in mind that this is just a proposed rule at this stage, it is worth taking note. For those who would like to comment on the proposed rule, the public comment period closes June 27, 2011.

This update follows on our bulletin of June 2010, noting that OFCCP was becoming more aggressive in its scrutiny of AAPs submitted for desk audit. Our firm is continuing to see this scrutiny play out in connection with desk audits, including requests for additional information such as additional compensation data.

Please contact Matt Raynes at our Bangor, Maine office with questions.

This alert is provided as general information, and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice.