OFCCP Updates Annual Hiring Benchmark and New Benchmark Resources

 The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) enforces VEVRAA (the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act.  VEVRAA prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against protected veterans and requires the employer to take affirmative action to recruit, hire, promote, and retain these individuals.

 

To measure our progress (as a Federal Contractor), VEVRAA requires contractors to establish a hiring benchmark every year to measure our progress toward achieving equal employment opportunity for protected veterans .  We can adopt the national hiring benchmark or setting an individualized using a five factor method.

 

Our companies choose to use the national hiring benchmark.  Effective March 31, 2024, the new benchmark is 5.2%

 

Additionally, OFCCP released a new course in the Contractor Compliance Institute (CCI) on the VEVRAA hiring benchmark. This 20-minute course covers the purpose of the benchmark, how to establish the benchmark, how to assess the benchmark, and provides resources to support ongoing VEVRAA compliance efforts. CCI is an online learning platform developed by the agency to help federal contractors comply with their equal employment opportunity obligations. Contractors can take this course or any of the courses in CCI by logging into an existing account or creating a new account.

 

Source(s): News Release received March 28, 2024; Contractor Compliance Institute (CCI), accessed on March 29, 2024.