Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act Regulations Frequently Asked Questions

The Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) is a law that prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment against protected veterans and requires employers to take affirmative action to recruit, hire, promote, and retain these individuals. You can view the regulations implementing VEVRAA, 41 CFR part 60-300, electronically on the National Archive’s eCFR website. These frequently asked questions include additional information about the VEVRAA regulations.

Protections under VEVRAA

Does VEVRAA protect all veterans?
What are my employment rights under VEVRAA?
How does OFCCP define "active duty wartime"?

Requirements of VEVRAA Regulations

What do the VEVRAA regulations require?
Does the Scheduling Letter request data and information that is required by the VEVRAA regulations?
Do the VEVRAA regulations require contractors to collect and document specific data related to the number of applicants and hires?
Do the VEVRAA regulations require that contractors design and implement an audit and reporting system for their affirmative action program?
What are contractors’ requirements under VEVRAA regulations for conducting outreach and recruitment?
What are contractors’ requirements under VEVRAA regulations for conducting reviews of physical and mental job qualification standards?
How do the VEVRAA regulations affect compliance evaluations?

Implementation Questions

Compliance Assistance and Education

How can I contact OFCCP if I have questions about the VEVRAA regulations?
How can I sign up to participate in educational events and find compliance assistance resources?
Where can I find more information about hiring benchmarks?

Protections under VEVRAA

1. Does VEVRAA protect all veterans?

Under VEVRAA, the term "protected veterans" includes four categories of veterans: disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, active-duty wartime or campaign badge veterans, and Armed Forces service medal veterans. For more information on who is covered by these categories, please reference the "Am I a Protected Veteran" infographic on OFCCP’s webpage and OFCCP’s Protected Veterans' Rights Fact Sheet.

2. What are my employment rights under VEVRAA?

VEVRAA prohibits a contractor or subcontractor from taking adverse action against you based on your status as a protected veteran, or your participation in a protected activity such as filing a complaint, opposing an unlawful act, exercising a protected right, or participating in an investigation, hearing, or compliance activity under VEVRAA. Examples of adverse action include, but are not limited to, not hiring you, not promoting you, firing you, or denying you any benefit in employment, because of your protected veteran status. These protections extend to nonveteran individuals who are discriminated against because they are known to have a family, business, social, or other relationship or association with a protected veteran as stated in OFCCP’s regulations 41 CFR 60- 300.21(e). For more information about employment rights under VEVRAA please visit OFCCP’s website.

3. How does OFCCP define "active duty wartime"?

The statute and regulations define an "active duty wartime" veteran as a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military during a war. Title 38, the title of federal statutes where VEVRAA is located, defines "period of war" as including World War II, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam era, and the Persian Gulf War, which is defined as August 2, 1990, to the present. Therefore, a veteran who served on active duty during any of those periods (and was not dishonorably discharged) is an "active duty wartime" veteran under VEVRAA. This is the same approach taken by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which administers most of the provisions in Title 38, when determining eligibility for various veteran benefits. See, for example, http://www.benefits.va.gov/pension/wartimeperiod.asp, listing the wartime periods eligible for VA pension benefits.

Requirements of VEVRAA Regulations

1. What do the VEVRAA regulations require?

VEVRAA requires employers doing business with the federal government to take affirmative action to recruit, hire, and promote categories of veterans covered by the law, including disabled veterans and recently separated veterans. Under VEVRAA, it is also illegal for these federal contractors and subcontractors to discriminate against protected veterans when making employment decisions on hiring, firing, pay, benefits, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, training, and other employment related activities.

2. Does the Scheduling Letter request data and information that is required by the VEVRAA regulations?

Yes. The Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing specify the documents and data related to VEVRAA that a contractor must provide to OFCCP when selected for a compliance evaluation. These include the contractor’s VEVRAA Affirmative Action Program (AAP), and the documentation and information required by Subpart C of the regulations, including but not limited to the contractor’s annually established hiring benchmark, evaluation of outreach and recruitment efforts, and the data described in 60-300.44(k). For more information about the Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing, please visit OFCCP’s Supply and Service Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing FAQs.

3. Do the VEVRAA regulations require contractors to collect and document specific data related to the number of applicants and hires?

Yes. The regulations require contractors to document and update the following comparisons and information regarding applicants and employees annually:

the number of protected veteran applicants;
the total number of job openings and the number of jobs filled;
the total number of applicants for all jobs with respect to employees;
the total number of protected veteran applicants hired; and
the total number of applicants hired.

This provides contractors with meaningful data to use in evaluating and tailoring their individualized benchmark as well as recruitment and outreach efforts. Contractors must maintain this information for three years, to allow them to assess the success of their outreach and recruitment efforts for veterans over time.

4. Do the VEVRAA regulations require that contractors design and implement an audit and reporting system for their affirmative action program?

Yes. VEVRAA regulations require that contractors have an internal audit and reporting system that measures the overall effectiveness of its AAP. This includes documenting any remedial actions taken and retaining these documents as employment records.

5. What are contractors’ requirements under VEVRAA regulations for conducting outreach and recruitment?

The regulations provide examples of outreach and recruitment activities but retain the flexibility for contractors to choose and utilize the outreach and recruitment activities that work best for them. To determine whether the chosen methods of outreach and recruitment have been successful, the regulations require that contractors annually assess their outreach and recruitment efforts and document this evaluation. The evaluation must include the criteria the contractor used to evaluate the effectiveness of each effort and the contractor’s conclusion as to whether each effort was effective. If the contractor concludes that the totality of its efforts were not effective in identifying and recruiting qualified protected veterans, it must implement alternative outreach and recruitment methods. Contractors must retain their evaluations for three years, to allow them to assess the success of their outreach and recruitment efforts for veterans over time.

6. What are contractors’ requirements under VEVRAA regulations for conducting reviews of physical and mental job qualification standards?

The regulations require that these reviews of job qualification standards be conducted "periodically." OFCCP has identified some promising practices, or examples, for reviewing job qualification standards. One example is reviewing physical and mental qualification standards prior to posting or filling a job position/opening, if the contractor has not reviewed the standards for that job within the past year; and whenever the physical or mental qualifications standards of a job change, regardless of when the contractor last reviewed that position’s standards.

7. How do the VEVRAA regulations affect compliance evaluations?

The regulations state that OFCCP may extend the temporal scope of an evaluation and examine information after the date of the compliance evaluation scheduling letter, if OFCCP deems it necessary to carry out its investigation of potential VEVRAA violations. The regulations also state that, upon request, the contractor must inform OFCCP of the format(s) in which it maintains its records and other information (e.g., Word; pdf; Excel), and provide the records and information to OFCCP in the available format(s) OFCCP selects. In addition, the regulations state that OFCCP may request that the contractor provide documents either on-site or off-site during compliance checks and that OFCCP may conduct focused reviews both on-site and off-site. Finally, the regulations require a pre-award compliance evaluation procedure like the one contained in the Executive Order 11246 regulations.

Implementation Questions

Postings

1. The regulations require that the "Know Your Rights" poster be made available in a "form that is accessible and understandable" to individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans, such as Braille or large print. Must contractors maintain Braille and/or large print versions of the poster at all locations?

Providing the "Know Your Rights" poster in an alternate format, such as large print or Braille, is a form of reasonable accommodation. Therefore, contractors must make the poster available in such an alternate format only when an applicant or employee requests the poster in an alternate format, or when the contractor knows that an applicant or employee is unable to read the poster because of a disability. Contractors may also provide the poster to an applicant or employee with a disability in other alternate formats, such as on disc or in an audio recording, so long as the format provided enables the individual with a disability to access the contents of the poster.

2. The regulations require contractors to "conspicuously store" the "Know Your Rights" poster with, or as part of, an electronic application. Does this mean that an actual physical or electronic copy of the poster must be individually stored with each application?

The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that applicants who apply for jobs electronically are informed of their equal employment opportunity protections as part of the application process. Although including a copy of the poster with every electronic application will satisfy the requirement, the regulations do not require contractors to do this. Rather, a contractor may choose to satisfy this requirement in any way that ensures that every electronic applicant has the opportunity to view the poster during the application process, such as by displaying a prominent link to the poster, along with a brief explanation of what the link connects to, as part of their electronic application.

3. Can a contractor satisfy its obligation to post a notice informing applicants and employees of their EEO rights by posting the notice electronically?

When a contractor has employees who do not work at its physical location, the contractor can satisfy its posting obligation by posting the EEO notice in electronic format. To have the ability to use electronic postings to satisfy this obligation, a contractor must either provide these employees with computers that can access the electronic posting or the contractor must have actual knowledge that the electronically posted notice is otherwise accessible to these employees. Contractors must post electronic notices for employees in a conspicuous location and format on the company’s Intranet or send them to employees by electronic mail (i.e., email). If the contractor uses an electronic application process, it must post an electronic notice to inform job applicants of their EEO rights. Electronic notices for applicants must be conspicuously stored with, or as part of, the electronic application. In addition, in individual instances, a contractor may have to provide a notice of EEO rights electronically as a form of reasonable accommodation for a disabled employee, even if the employee works at the contractor's physical location.

Data Collection Analysis

1. The data collection requirements in section 60-300.44(k)(2) of the VEVRAA regulations require contractors to document "the total number of job openings and total number of jobs filled." Does the "total number of openings" refer to the number of requisitions or job vacancy announcements, or to the number of individual open positions referenced in the requisitions or announcements?

The total number of job openings refers to the number of individual positions advertised as open in a job vacancy announcement or requisition. For example, if one job vacancy announcement or requisition includes 5 open positions and results in 4 hires, the contractor would document this as 5 job openings and 4 jobs filled.

2. The data collection requirements in section 60-300.44(k) also ask contractors to report the number of jobs "filled" (60-300.44(k)(2)) and those "hired" (60-300.44(k)(4) and (5)). How does the number of "jobs filled" differ from the number of people "hired"?

In the context of the data collection requirements of 60-300.44(k), jobs "filled" refers to all jobs the company filled by any means, be it through a competitive process or non-competitively, e.g., through reassignment or merit promotion. It, therefore, should take into account both new hires into the company and those employees who were placed into new positions via promotions, transfers, and reassignments. In contrast, the number of those "hired" refers solely to those applicants (both internal and external to the contractor) who are hired through a competitive process, including promotions.

3. Does the number of "jobs filled" include step or ladder movements that are automatically attained upon completion of a stated event, such as time in the job or attainment of a particular certification?

Both competitive and non-competitive movements may qualify as "jobs filled" so long as the movement is one into a different position, rather than simply a movement within the same position. This will necessarily be a fact-based determination. So, for example, a time-driven salary increase from one "step" to the next within the same position would not be a "job filled" since there was not any movement into a new position. By contrast, if an apprentice completes a certification program and moves into a higher level position, then such movement would be a "job filled" since it is a movement from one position to another.

4. Can a contractor’s existing human resources information system (HRIS) and/or applicant tracking system (ATS) serve as the "data analysis file" in which veteran self-identification must be stored?

Contractors may use their existing human resources information systems or applicant tracking systems as the data analysis file repositories for the veteran self-identification data collected pursuant to the regulations, provided that certain criteria are met. Specifically, the veteran status-related data must be stored securely, apart from other personnel information, so that confidentiality is maintained, and access to this data must be limited solely to contractor personnel who have a need to know the information for the purpose of complying with OFCCP’s regulations. Veteran self-identification data must not be kept with the employee’s confidential medical file.

Mandatory Job Listing

1. What do the VEVRAA regulations require with respect to the mandatory job listing requirement?

The contractor must provide its job listing information in a format that is permitted by the appropriate employment service delivery system (ESDS). This means, for example, that if the ESDS requires electronic transmission through a Web-based form, the contractor must provide its job listings in this way. If the ESDS will accept job listings electronically, by facsimile or by mail, then the contractor may provide its job listings in any of these formats. In addition, with its initial listing, a contractor must indicate that it is a federal contractor that desires priority referrals of protected veterans for its openings. The contractor must also provide the ESDS with contact information for the contractor official responsible for hiring at each hiring location in the state. This official may be a chief hiring official, an HR contact, a senior management contact, or any other appropriate official. Should there be changes to any of this information, the contractor must provide the ESDS with updated information at the time of its next job listing.

2. How should contractors list job openings for "remote jobs," that is, jobs that will be performed entirely by telework from any location, in order to comply with VEVRAA’s job listing requirement?

VEVRAA requires that contractors list their employment openings with the appropriate state or local employment service delivery system (ESDS) where the opening "occurs." Typically, the location of a job opening, or the location to which the employee must report for work is where the opening "occurs." However, when a vacancy announcement indicates that the opening is for a remote job to be performed entirely by telework, there is no fixed place where the job "occurs." The contractor may, therefore, satisfy the job listing requirement for a remote job by listing the opening with an ESDS in any area where qualified candidates might be found. Where the vacancy announcement indicates that the job may be performed either from a specified duty station or remotely, the contractor must list the job with the ESDS where the duty station is located, but may also list the opening with any other ESDS it determines is appropriate.

Self-Identification

1. Why are veterans asked to self-identify?

Under VEVRAA, contractors must offer each applicant the opportunity to self-identify as a protected veteran at both the pre-offer and post-offer phases of the hiring process. Federal contractors use this information to help measure the effectiveness of their veteran-hiring initiatives. Although it is voluntary to disclose your veteran status, there are mutual benefits for applicants, employees, and federal contractors in self-identifying.

By self-identifying, you could potentially become a priority referral for job openings. Under VEVRAA, federal contractors must advise the employment service delivery system (ESDS) that they desire priority referrals of protected veterans for job openings within the state. There may also be resources available to you as a veteran that federal contractors can provide to you if you choose to self-identify. Examples include veteran employee assistance programs and networking opportunities. Providing your veteran status also helps federal contractors to see if they have effective policies and processes related to veterans.

2. What do the VEVRAA regulations require with respect to the contractor’s obligation to invite applicants to self-identify as a protected veteran?

The VEVRAA regulations require contractors to invite applicants to self-identify as a protected veteran prior to making a job offer and post-offer so that contractors can track the number of protected veterans who apply for jobs and use this data to assess the effectiveness of their outreach and recruitment efforts. The pre-offer invitation to self-identify may be included in the contractors’ application materials. After making a job offer to an applicant, the regulations require that contractors invite applicants to voluntarily self-identify as belonging to any of the specific categories of protected veteran (e.g., recently separated veteran; disabled veteran) on which the contractor is required to report by the Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS). You can find the sample invitation on the OFCCP website.

3. When should my company invite pre-offer self-identification from applicants? Is the timing the same for Internet applicants?

The VEVRAA regulations permit contractors to invite applicants to self-identify as a protected veteran at the same time that the contractor collects demographic data regarding race, gender, and ethnicity from applicants, as required by Executive Order 11246. Under Executive Order 11246, the Internet Applicant Rule generally allows contractors to screen out individuals whom they believe do not meet the basic qualifications for the position prior to collecting demographic data regarding race, gender, and ethnicity. In order to harmonize VEVRAA’s pre-offer invitation to self-identify requirement with Executive Order 11246’s Internet Applicant recordkeeping provisions, OFCCP permits contractors to invite applicants to self-identify after they meet the Internet Applicant requirements, including the basic qualification screen.

When designing basic qualification screens, contractors should be mindful of the requirements that VEVRAA places on the use of qualification standards and selection criteria, including the use of "basic qualification" screens. VEVRAA prohibits contractors from using qualification standards and selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out a disabled or other protected veteran or a class of disabled or other protected veterans unless the contractor can show that the standards or criteria are job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity. Moreover, contractors may not use selection criteria that relate to the performance of an essential function of the job to exclude a disabled veteran if that person could satisfy the criteria with a reasonable accommodation.

4. If an individual self-identifies as a protected veteran at the pre-offer stage of the application process, but does not self–identify again at the post-offer stage, may a contractor still count the individual as a protected veteran for purposes of applying the hiring benchmark and performing the required data collection analysis?

Section 60-300.42 of the VEVRAA regulations requires contractors to invite applicants to self-identify as "protected veterans" at both the pre-offer and post-offer stages of the application process. If an applicant self-identifies as a "protected veteran" at the pre-offer stage but not at the post-offer stage, the contractor may identify the new hire as a "protected veteran" for purposes of compliance with the VEVRAA regulations.

5. The Veterans’ Employment and Training Service’s (VETS) VETS-4212 form requires federal contractors to report aggregate data on the number of protected veterans that were newly hired and the number they employed. This is different from the previous requirement that contractors report the data by the number of veterans in each of the individual categories for protected veterans. To comply with OFCCP’s VEVRAA requirements, must contractors invite applicants to self-identify using the individual categories at the post-offer stage?

No. The VEVRAA requirement, at 41 CFR 60-300.42(b), mandates that contractors invite post-offer self-identification as a protected veteran. This provision is specifically linked to the scope of the VETS reporting requirement. Accordingly, since the VETS-4212 report only requires contractors to provide this information in the aggregate, contractors are not required to invite self-identification by category in order to comply with VEVRAA’s post-offer invitation requirement. Rather, contractors need only invite those offered a job to indicate whether they are protected veterans under any of the VEVRAA categories.

6. May a contractor invite applicants to voluntarily self-identify as a protected veteran using the individual categories for protected veterans, even though the VETS-4212 form asks only for aggregated protected veteran data?

Yes. Though not required, contractors may choose to invite applicants to voluntarily self-identify the specific category or categories of protected veteran to which they belong at the post-offer stage, so long as the contractor also provides VETS with the aggregate protected veteran data required by the VETS-4212 form.

Hiring Benchmarks

1. What does my company have to do to establish its benchmark?

The VEVRAA regulations require that each contractor who is required to develop a written affirmative action program (AAP) also establish a hiring benchmark for protected veterans each year. This benchmark is a tool to help contractors assess the effectiveness of their efforts to recruit and employ protected veterans. A contractor may establish its hiring benchmark in one of two ways:

A contractor may establish a benchmark equal to the national percentage of veterans in the civilian labor force, as posted in the Benchmark Database on the OFCCP website; or
A contractor may establish its own benchmark by taking into account the following five factors:

the average percentage of veterans in the civilian labor force in the state where the contractor is located over the preceding three years, as posted in the Benchmark Database on the OFCCP website;
the number of veterans, over the previous four quarters, who participated in the employment service delivery system in the state where the contractor is located, as posted in the Benchmark Database on the OFCCP website;
the applicant and hiring ratios for the previous year;
the contractor’s recent assessments of the effectiveness of its outreach and recruitment efforts; and
any other factors, such as the nature of the job or its location, that would affect the availability of qualified protected veterans.

Contractors must maintain records related to their benchmark for three years, allowing them to assess the success of their outreach and recruitment efforts for veterans over time.

2. Does my company have to apply our hiring benchmark to each of our Executive Order job groups?

No. Contractors may apply their hiring benchmark to each of their job groups, but the VEVRAA regulations do not require them to do so.

3. Is the hiring benchmark a "goal"?

No, the hiring benchmark in VEVRAA functions differently from the "goals" expressed in the Executive Order 11246 regulations and the Section 503 regulations. The hiring benchmark in VEVRAA provides a yardstick against which contractors can measure the success of their efforts to recruit and employ qualified protected veterans. A goal, on the other hand, not only serves as a yardstick to measure the success of outreach and recruitment efforts, but it also provides an equal opportunity objective, based on the availability of members of the protected group in the labor force, that should be attainable if the contractor complies with its affirmative action program. In contrast, the only data regarding veteran availability in the labor force encompasses all veterans, and is broader than the subset of veterans who are protected by VEVRAA. Therefore, such data could not be used as the basis for establishing an availability-based goal.

4. Should a contractor apply the VEVRAA hiring benchmark to all of its establishments, to each establishment separately, or to each job group at each establishment?

The VEVRAA hiring benchmark – whether based on the national percentage of veterans per 60-300.45(b)(1) or the five-factor approach in 60-300.45(b)(2) – should be applied to hiring for each establishment separately.

5. Is it acceptable for a contractor to set different benchmarks for each of its establishments? For example, may a contractor set the benchmark for one of its establishments using the national percentage of veterans (per 60-300.45(b)(1)) and for another of its establishments using the five-factor analysis (per 60-300.45(b)(2))?

Yes. Each contractor is free to use either of the two methods specified in the regulations to establish the benchmark for each of its establishments.

6. When applying the hiring benchmark, should contractors use the same definition of "hires" that is used for purposes of the data collection analysis required by 60-300.44(k)?

Yes. Since the regulations do not specify a different definition of "hires" for the VEVRAA hiring benchmark, contractors should use the definition of hires that is applicable to the data collection analysis obligation. That definition encompasses those applicants (both internal and external to the contractor) who are hired through a competitive process, including promotions. This will ensure consistency in the interpretations of these key provisions of the regulations.

Equal Opportunity Clause

1. Do the VEVRAA regulations permit my company to incorporate the Equal Opportunity (EO) Clause into subcontracts by reference?

Contractors can incorporate the EO Clause into subcontracts by reference but only by citing the regulations, 41 CFR 60-300.5(a), AND including the following sentences in bold text immediately following the citation:

This contractor and subcontractor shall abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-300.5(a). This regulation prohibits discrimination against qualified protected veterans and requires affirmative action by covered prime contractors and subcontractors to employ and advance in employment qualified protected veterans.

2. For those contractors that elect to incorporate the required Equal Opportunity (EO) clauses by reference, may the "incorporation by reference" clause required by 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) be combined with the "incorporation by reference" clause required by 41 CFR 60-741.5(a)?

Yes, contractors may combine all required EO clauses into a single "incorporation by reference" clause, provided that the entire combined clause is set in bold text and the prescribed content of the veteran and disability EO "incorporation by reference" clauses is preserved. The following example provides one illustration of how this might be done for a supply and service contractor:

This contractor and subcontractor shall abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 60-300.5(a) and 60-741.5(a). These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. Moreover, these regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.

3. Are federal contractors permitted to combine all of the Equal Opportunity (EO) clauses required by 41 CFR 60-300.5(a), 41 CFR 60-741.5(a), and 41 CFR 60-1.4(a) (or for construction contractors, 41 CFR 60-4.3(a)) into a single, consolidated "incorporation by reference" clause?

Yes, contractors may combine all required EO clauses into a single "incorporation by reference" clause, provided that the entire combined clause is set in bold text and the prescribed content of the veteran and disability EO “incorporation by reference” clauses is preserved. The following example provides one illustration of how this might be done for a supply and service contractor:

4. May contractors satisfy the EEO tagline requirement by abbreviating "disability" and "protected veteran status" as "D" and "V", respectively?

Contractors may refer to those protected by Section 503 or VEVRAA by abbreviation, but such abbreviations must be commonly understood by those seeking employment. Simply using "D" and "V" are not adequate abbreviations for this reason. The tagline should at a minimum state "disability" and "vet" so that the tagline will be clearly understood by jobseekers.

5. What do the VEVRAA regulations require with respect to the equal opportunity employer statement that is included in all solicitations and advertisements for employees?

The regulations require a contractor to state in its job solicitations and advertisements that it is an equal opportunity employer of protected veterans. Contractors can do this by simply adding "veteran status," or at a minimum state "vet," so that the existing equal opportunity employer statement will be clearly understood.

Compliance Assistance and Education

1. How can I contact OFCCP if I have questions about the VEVRAA regulations?

Contractors and other stakeholders may always reach out to OFCCP’s Toll-Free Help Line with questions by calling 1-800-397-6251, or by going to the "Contact Us" tab on the OFCCP website at https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/ to email us.

2. How can I sign up to participate in educational events and find compliance assistance resources?

To view scheduled technical assistance webinars and stakeholder events visit the DOL Events Calendar at https://www.dol.gov/calendar/. To view recordings and transcripts of previously conducted technical assistance webinars visit the OFCCP Public Webinars page at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/compliance-assistance/outreach/webinars. In addition, OFCCP has compiled Section 503 and VEVRAA resources at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/compliance-assistance/outreach/resources/section-503-vevraa and Compliance Assistance Guides at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/compliance-assistance to support federal contractors’ compliance with the regulations.

3. Where can I find more information about hiring benchmarks?

Additional information about hiring benchmark requirements, methods for establishing a hiring benchmark, using the five-factor method to develop an individualized hiring benchmark, and examples of the five-factor method can be found on OFCCP’s website at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/vevraa/hiring-benchmark.

The contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way. This document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.

Last updated on February 12, 2024