On August 28, the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued two significant final rules to improve hiring and employment of veterans and of people with disabilities. One rule updates the department’s rules relating to the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA), which protects veterans against employment discrimination. The other updates the department’s rules relating to Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which protects individuals with disabilities against employment discrimination.
While the goals of both rules are laudable, PSC is concerned about the challenges for contractors in implementing these new significant regulatory requirements. In addition, both rules fail to address any of the real barriers contractors face in hiring veterans or individuals with disabilities, such as finding prospective employees with appropriate experience levels that meet contractual skills requirements and addressing their training needs. In addition, the 503 rule applies the disability hiring goal to each job group of the contractor, thus potentially exponentially raising the challenge of compliance. PSC authored a February 2012 letter to Labor, raising significant implementation challenges with the proposed 503 rule. PSC is conducting a detailed review of both final rules to identify any additional concerns.
Both rules will generally become effective six months after publication in the Federal Register, which is expected soon. Now that Labor has finalized both regulations, we expect the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council to commence its rule-making to implement these OFCCP requirements into the FAR. PSC will engage the FAR Council in the development of the necessary acquisition regulations.
