Even before President Obama said last week that he would speed the pullout of American troops from Afghanistan, the Department of Labor was trying to strengthen a Vietnam-era law designed to make sure returning soldiers get jobs.
Some longtime veterans complain, though, that the wording of the law isn’t the problem. Instead, they say, the law isn’t enforced well, complaints aren’t handled promptly, and contractors are failing to adequately inform veterans about the law, as required. In many cases veterans don’t even know the law exists, they say.
The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act, or VEVRAA, requires companies that have contracts with the federal government — nearly 110,000 at last count, including companies like commercial airlines that transport mail, consulting firms and electronics manufacturers — to actively seek out veterans when hiring, and forbids discrimination against them when filling jobs and promoting employees.
Veterans who qualify include disabled and recently discharged soldiers and soldiers who served in military campaigns and operations for which a campaign badge or an Armed Forces Service Medal was issued.
“Increasing numbers of veterans are returning from duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world only to face substantial obstacles in finding employment,” the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs said in a recent report explaining why it was considering strengthening the law.
Post-9/11 veterans have higher rates of unemployment than nonveterans and older veterans, according to a Congressional report issued in May. Some of that higher unemployment may be because the industries that often employed veterans shrank during the recession, the report found.
Mr. Obama said last Wednesday that he would bring 10,000 troops back to the United States this year from Afghanistan and 23,000 more by next summer.
The Department of Labor’s proposed changes include requiring contracting companies to keep better data about veterans applying for jobs and hiring rates, increasing recruitment and ramping up outreach efforts to veterans.
The government recently extended the public comment period for these changes from June 27 to July 11 and is taking comments on a federal Web site.
Some longtime veterans complain that the wording of the law isn’t the problem. Instead, they say, the law isn’t enforced well, complaints aren’t handled promptly and contractors are failing to adequately inform veterans about the law, as required. In many cases veterans don’t even know they are eligible for preferential hiring, they say.
Veterans groups have long criticized the Office of Federal Contract Compliance, the division of the Department of Labor responsible for enforcing the law. The OFCCP, as it is known, “has long had the (justified) reputation of being a moribund agency within the Department of Labor who did little, if anything, to help anyone, much less veterans,” Rick Weidman, executive director for the Vietnam Veterans of America, said in testimony before Congress last year.
The OFCCP should be more active, he said. “The message needs to get out that there are consequences to noncompliance,” he said.
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