Rules to Improve Employment for Veterans and People with Disabilities

On August 27, 2013 the U.S. Department of Labor announced two new rules which will improve hiring and employment of veterans and people with disabilities. The change in these rules will now allow us to measure federal contractors’ progress toward achieving

equal opportunity for protected veterans and people with disabilities.

The first rule updates the requirements under the Vietnam Era Veteran’s Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) of 1974. This rule provides contractors  with a quantifiable metric to measure their success in hiring veterans by requiring contractors to annually adopt a benchmark either based on the nation’s percentage of veterans in the workforce (currently 8%), or their own benchmark based on the best available data. (http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/vevraa.htm)

The second rule updates the requirements for Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. This rule introduces a hiring goal for federal contractors and subcontractors that 7% of each job group in their workforce be qualified individuals with disabilities. The rule also goes on to specify expectations of contractors in the areas of recruitment, training, record keeping and policy dissemination. (https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/section503.htm)

Changes to these rules were a long time coming. The unemployment rate for veterans and persons with disabilities is excessively high. You would think that those who have given so much to serve our country after 9/11 would be able to find employment after coming home. Unfortunately, employment rates for these veterans were reported to have dropped by 2.2% in 2012. In addition, in 2012 it was reported by the U.S. Department of Labor that only 17.8% of people with disabilities were employed, compared to 63.9% of non-disabled people with employment. (http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/20/news/economy/veteran-jobs/index.html; http://www.bls.gov/news.release/disabl.nr0.htm )

We hope the changes in these rules actually have a positive and significant impact on employment for veterans and people with disabilities; not only in the employment rates and opportunities, but also in the quality of their employment. For those veterans and people with disabilities who remain disillusioned with available employment opportunities, we encourage you to remember, that self-employment is always an option.