As government contractors are aware, since March 24, 2014 OFCCP’s regulations implementing the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) have required contractors to establish annual benchmarks for protected veterans or adopt OFCCP’s national benchmark. Under the regulations, contractors are required to compare the percentage of their employees who are protected veterans to the benchmark. This comparison is then used to assess the effectiveness of the contractors’ protected veteran outreach and recruitment efforts. Our comprehensive client alert on the new VEVRAA regulations can be found here.

On April 21, 2015, OFCCP announced that the national benchmark has dropped slightly based on 2014 end of year Bureau of Labor Statistics Data. The national benchmark is now 7.0 percent, down slightly from the previous benchmark of 7.2 percent.

For contractors who want to calculate their own hiring benchmark, OFCCP has updated its VEVRAA Benchmark Database. The database can be found here.