The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (the “OFCCP”) recently reduced the VEVRAA hiring benchmark for protected veterans from 7.2% to 7.0%. The hiring benchmark is intended to reflect the percentage of veterans in the civilian workforce across the country. The OFCCP reduced the hiring benchmark in response to the 2014 year-end data of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Federal contractors and subcontractors opting to use the hiring benchmark for their 2015 affirmative action plans should now use this revised benchmark, regardless of where in the country their establishments are located. Federal contractors and subcontractors may still opt to instead use the OFCCP’s five factor method to develop an individualized hiring benchmark.