News

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recently announced changes to regulations governing federal contractors that are intended to promote the hiring of military veterans, which includes disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans, and Armed Forces Service medal veterans.

McAfee & Taft employment attorney Kathy Neal, who has represented employers who are federal contractors in a number of OFCCP compliance matters, was interviewed by The Oklahoman about these changes.

“The biggest change is that federal contractors (those having a government contract of subcontract of $100,000 or more entered into on or after December 1, 2003) must establish annual hiring benchmarks for protected veterans,” she said. “Contractors may either establish a benchmark equal to the national percentage of veterans in the civilian labor force or establish their own benchmarks using certain state government data as well as other facts that reflect their unique hiring circumstances.”

Neal also discussed what federal contractors must do to reach out to prospective veteran applicants and the steps they must take to document their recruiting efforts.