The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has just announced that the hiring benchmark for protected veterans is 5.9 percent effective March 31.

The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act requires federal contractors to set an annual hiring benchmark for protected veterans. The main method for establishing that benchmark is to use the national percentage of veterans in the civilian labor force, which is updated each year. The new figure is 5.9 percent.    

In determining whether the hiring benchmark is met, contractors must compare the percentage of hires at each establishment with this hiring benchmark. Thus, for affirmative action plans developed on or after this Sunday, the hiring benchmark will be 5.9 percent (unless the contractor opts to set its own hiring benchmark based on the OFCCP’s five-factor approach).

As provided on the OFCCP's website, the national percentage of veterans in the civilian labor force has declined each year since 2014, when this hiring benchmark was first required:

The OFCCP also announced that it “plans to incorporate VEVRAA Focused Reviews into the Corporate Scheduling Announcement List” for the next fiscal year, which will begin on October 1. Earlier this week, the agency published its latest list, which targets a new batch of contractors, and includes focused reviews under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. 

Please let us know if you have questions about the annual hiring benchmark for protected veterans or how that affects your organization’s affirmative action compliance.