National Hiring Benchmark for Veterans Lowered: Employment Law Manual Updated

Authors: Beth P. Zoller and David B. Weisenfeld, XpertHR Legal Editors

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recently lowered the Annual National Benchmark for hiring veterans from 7.2% to 7%.  This change will take effect in January 2016; it is acceptable to develop all 2015 affirmative action plans with a 7% hiring benchmark.

Contactors that meet the requirements for developing an affirmative action plan must have an annual hiring benchmark for protected veterans, based on either the national percentage of veterans in the workforce, or a figure reflecting the contractor's particular hiring circumstances.

Based on this development, the EEO-Affirmative Action and Affirmative Action Planning sections of the Employment Law Manual have been updated.