Rules Set Goals For Hiring Vets, Disabled People

Business Insurance interviewed Cheryl Behymer, co-chair of the firm’s Affirmative Action and Federal Contract Compliance Practice Group, for the article “Rules Set Goals For Hiring Vets, Disabled People.” The article reported on two final rules announced by the U.S. Department of Labor on August 27, 2013 requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to set a goal of hiring people with disabilities to comprise 7% of each job group in their workforces.  According to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), nearly one out of every four U.S. workers is employed by a company that is either a federal contractor or a subcontractor. The contractor rule on hiring the disabled updates Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the rule on hiring veterans updates requirements under the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. Cheryl noted that the rules are an improvement over the original rules proposed in 2011. “I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the OFCCP kind of scaled back a little bit from the proposed rules,” she said. For instance, in the original proposal, in addition to having 7% of each job group being disabled, there was also a requirement that 2% of the disabled be severely disabled. “They've completely dropped the 2% severely disabled (requirement), which was wonderful,” she added.