EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
US Labor Department Proposes Rule To Improve Employment Of Protected Veterans
grams announced a T
he U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Pro- proposed
rule to
strengthen affirmative action require- ments of federal contractors and subcon- tractors for veterans protected under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment As- sistance Act of 1974. Veterans protected by VEVRAA include those with disabili- ties and those recently discharged as well as those who served during a war, cam- paign or expedition for which a campaign badge is authorized. The proposed rule will be published in the April 26 edition of the Federal Register.
“At the Labor Department, we support
veterans as they seek meaningful ways to apply their talents to expand the American economy. By re-examining our affirma- tive action requirements, we will ensure that our nation’s veterans are protected against discrimination and provided equal opportunity in the workforce,” said OFC- CP Director Patricia A. Shiu. The award of a federal contract comes with a number of responsibilities. Among them are complying with non-discrimina- tion and affirmative action provisions, en- gaging in meaningful and effective efforts to recruit and employ veterans protected under VEVRAA, and maintaining accu- rate records on affirmative action efforts. Failure to abide by these responsibilities may result in various sanctions, from withholding progress payments to termi- nation of existing contracts and debar- ment from receiving future ones. The framework articulating a contrac-
tor’s responsibilities with respect to affir- mative action, recruitment and placement has remained unchanged since 1976. In- creasing numbers of veterans are return- ing from tours of duty, and many are faced with substantial obstacles in finding em- ployment upon leaving the service.
30 PROFESSIONAL WOMAN’S MULTICULTURAL MAGAZINE
The proposed rule clarifies mandatory
job listing requirements, under which a contractor must provide job vacancy and contact information for each of its loca- tions to an appropriate employment ser- vice delivery system. The rule proposes requiring contractors to engage in at least three specified types of outreach and re- cruitment efforts each year. In addition, the proposed rule would require that all applicants be invited to self-identify as a “protected veteran” before they are of- fered a job. Increasing data collection on job referrals, applicants and hires, and re- quiring
contractors to establish hiring
benchmarks to assist in measuring the ef- fectiveness of their affirmative action ef- forts also are proposed. Comments on the notice of proposed
CELEBRATING 11 YEARS OF DIVERSITY
rulemaking must be submitted by June 27. Visit the federal e-rulemaking portal,
http://www.regulations.gov, to submit comments. In addition to VEVRAA, OFCCP’s le- gal authority exists under Executive Or- der 11246 and Section 503 of the Reha- bilitation Act of 1973. As amended, these three laws hold those who do business with the federal government, both con- tractors and subcontractors, to the fair and reasonable standard that they not discrim- inate in employment on the basis of gen- der, race, color, religion, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. For general information, call OFCCP’s
toll-free helpline at 800-397-6251. Addi- tional information is available at http://
www.dol.gov/ofccp.
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