Federal contractors subject to VEVRAA AAP requirements for veterans are required to annually set a veteran hiring benchmark and have two options for doing so. They can either adopt the national percentage of veterans in the civilian labor force as published on the OFCCP’s website, or engage in a five-factor analysis incorporating multiple data sources that are not all easily accessible.
Not surprisingly, most if not all contractors simply adopt the national veteran percentage, traditionally updated each year on March 31. This year is no exception, and the current benchmark for AAPs starting April 1 and later is 5.5%.
The veteran hiring benchmark is a bit of a head-scratcher among the OFCCP’s various AAP requirements. Inexplicably, it is entirely divorced from veteran utilization, meaning that an organization can be entirely veteran owned and operated and still have to set an annual hiring benchmark.
And the requirement came into being right when veteran hiring initiatives became extremely popular in Corporate America, so contractors are having trouble meeting the benchmark frequently due to a lack of veterans seeking employment, not discrimination.
Another oddity is the fact that only veterans who fall into one or more of the current VEVRAA categories “count” toward the benchmark. Setting aside for a moment the notion that there are some veterans who “count” and some who do not, this is particularly odd because the benchmark is meant to be a tool for evaluating the effectiveness and maybe sufficiency of your veteran outreach and recruitment efforts. We find this odd because there are no outreach and recruitment organizations that cater only to veterans who fall into those VEVRAA categories.
As a result, when determining whether or not the benchmark was met, only employees who indicate they are a “protected veteran” count toward your hiring total. The OFCCP has been very clear that if an employee identifies as a veteran but is not covered by VEVRAA, they do not belong in the analysis.
However, if the benchmark is not met, the next step is akin to a missed placement goal in your Executive Order 11246 AAP. You then try to identify “problem areas” and implement an “action-oriented program” to address any problems identified. That is where your non-VEVRAA veterans can legitimately come into the mix. If the outreach effort is necessarily to all veterans, then the evaluation of the effectiveness of such an effort must include all veterans. We call it the attorney two-step.
Why the OFCCP implemented this requirement the way they did we may never know. But BCGi does have some resources to help. For instance, our sample veteran self-identification form does not use terms like “protected veteran,” instead choosing the much less controversial “VEVRAA veteran.” And it allows people to indicate that they did serve in the U.S. armed forces even if they do not happen to fit in one of the four VEVRAA categories, allowing you to dance the attorney two-step, too! We also provide people with a way to opt in or out of things like veteran recognition events because we understand that not everyone wants attention drawn to their service.
If you have questions about this or any other OFCCP requirement, feel free to drop us a line at BCGi@Biddle.com.
