VETS-4212 Report Replaces VETS-100 & VETS-100A Reports

The United States Department of Labor ("USDOL") recently issued a Final Rule to revise the regulations implementing the reporting requirements under the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, ("VEVRAA"). The recent rule changes aim to strengthen the affirmative action requirements so federal contractors and subcontractors ("contractors") may improve their efforts to recruit and hire protected veterans.

Previously, VEVRAA required federal contractors to annually report the number of qualified covered veteran employees and newly hired employees in their workforce by occupational category and hiring location during each reporting period. Contractors reported this information on the VETS-100 or VETS-100A Report, dependent on the date the federal contract was entered into or modified and the amount of the contract. The VETS-100 and VETS-100A reporting was based on the number of veterans in each veteran category, rather than the number of protected employees covered under VEVRAA overall. For example, an employee who was a disabled veteran and an Armed Forces service medal veteran would have previously been counted in each of those protected veteran categories, which resulted in the employee being considered in more than one veteran category. Therefore, under previous reporting requirements, it was difficult to accurately determine the total number of veterans employed or newly hired in the contractor's workforce.

Under the USDOL's new regulations, contractors will now be required to complete the new VETS-4212 Report (which replaces the VETS-100 and VETS-100A Reports) to provide information on protected veterans in their workforce in the aggregate, rather than for each distinct veteran category.

VEVRAA defines "protected or covered veteran" as any of the following veterans:

• Disabled veterans;
• Armed Forces service medal veterans;
• Veterans who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized; and/or
• Recently separated veterans.

In order to ensure compliance with the new reporting requirements under VEVRAA, federal contractors must perform the following:

• Set goals to hire veterans based on the national percentage of veterans currently in the workforce;
• Make an effort to recruit protected veterans;
• Invite voluntary self-identification during both the pre-offer and post-offer stages of the job application process;
• Comply with OFCCP reviews;
• Measure and report the number of veterans who apply and make comparisons to those who are hired; and
• Provide access to job listings for veterans who may use employment service delivery systems.

The Final Rule took effect on October 27, 2014. However, VEVRAA will not require contractors to comply with the new reporting requirements until the 2015 reporting cycle, which will allow contractors an adequate amount of time to make adjustments to their current recordkeeping systems.

If you have questions or concerns regarding the Final Rule with VEVRAA, please contact Creative Business Solutions. We would be pleased to assist you with all of your compliance needs.

Sources:

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles, "Annual Report From Federal Contractors."

http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-vevraa.htm, "The Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act" (VEVRAA).

https://adata.org, "New Rules: Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act."

http://www.sgrlaw.com/resources/client_alerts/new-for-2015-vets-4212-report-replaces-vets-100a-report/,"New for 2015: VETS-4212 Report Replaces VETS-100A Report"