Federal contractors and subcontractors covered under Section 4212 of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (“VEVRAA”), are required to report annually their affirmative action efforts in employing veterans on forms VETS-100 or VETS 100-A. That may soon change. Last February, Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) filed a proposed rule that would eliminate VETS-100 reporting and update the form VETS-100A and rename it form VETS-4212.
Need for Change
The reasons for changing the reporting procedures are two-fold. First, the VETS-100 form, which applies only to federal contracts from before December 1, 2003, would be rescinded because it is obsolete. Second, the VETS-100A form can be confusing and makes tracking reported data difficult. For example, the current VETS 100-A form asks veterans to self-identify as disabled veteran, recently separated veteran, Armed Forces service medal veteran and/or other protected veteran. Some veterans can check more than one box. They might also mistakenly assume “other protected veteran” is a catch-all provision for all veterans.
VETS Reporting Revisions
The new VETS-4212 form will include a definition of each category of protected veteran and will replace “other protected veteran” with “active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran.” With that, applicants or employees will be asked simply whether they are protected veterans rather than which kind of protected veteran they are. Also, contractors would be required to report the aggregate number of protected veterans identified, instead of the numbers for each veteran category.
Compliance
Federal contractors should continue using forms VETS-100/100A for the current filing season from August 1, 2014 to September 30, 2014. Form changes won’t be effective until one year after the effective date of the final rule which has not yet been issued. Meanwhile, contractors may need to update language in policies, procedures and affirmative action plans, modify their self-identification process, and upgrade data collection and retention systems to prepare for the changes. Vets 100 program information is available here. FAQs about reporting requirements under VEVRAA are here.