Federal Contractor Hiring: Effect of Veteran Hiring Legislation Is Unknown
GGD-94-6
Published: Oct 18, 1993. Publicly Released: Oct 18, 1993.
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Highlights
Pursuant to congressional requests, GAO reviewed: (1) whether federal contractors and state job service centers are fulfilling legislative requirements to consider disabled veterans for employment; and (2) the legislation's effect on federal contractors' hiring of veterans.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Once DOL has taken the actions needed so that the effects of the federal contractor legislation can be reliably assessed, Congress may wish to review the data to determine whether it finds these effects acceptable. If Congress decides that the legislative intent of enhancing the employment opportunities of veterans in the contractor workforce is not being met and is still relevant, it may wish to discuss with DOL alternative provisions for implementing the act. One alternative for consideration could be to incorporate in the legislation general or specific goals to be achieved in federal contractors' hiring of veterans. |
Closed – Not Implemented
|
Since this matter for congressional consideration depends on DOL's ability to provide the data needed for Congress to assess program performance, and DOL has not provided those data, no action is pending at this time. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Labor | To enable DOL and Congress to assess the effectiveness of the federal contractor legislation for special disabled veterans and, if still relevant, for Vietnam-era veterans, the Secretary of Labor should obtain, either from federal contractors or from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, contractors' total number of employees. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOL has not determined how to collect the data. DOL also has reliability and cost concerns about getting the data.
|
| Department of Labor | To enable DOL and Congress to assess the effectiveness of the federal contractor legislation for special disabled veterans and, if still relevant, for Vietnam-era veterans, the Secretary of Labor should determine, from the total number of employees and the already available information on contractors' veteran employees, the percentage of the contractor workforce that is composed of special disabled and Vietnam-era veterans. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOL has not determined how to collect the data. DOL also has reliability and cost concerns about getting the data.
|
| Department of Labor | To enable DOL and Congress to assess the effectiveness of the federal contractor legislation for special disabled veterans and, if still relevant, for Vietnam-era veterans, the Secretary of Labor should compare the ratio of veterans to nonveterans in the federal contractor workforce with the ratio existing in the applicable private sector workforce and provide the results of this comparison to Congress. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOL has not determined how it can best obtain the data necessary to generate the ratios necessary to make the comparisons.
|
| Department of Labor | To enable DOL and Congress to assess the effectiveness of the federal contractor legislation for special disabled veterans and, if still relevant, for Vietnam-era veterans, the Secretary of Labor should require the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to use the comparative information for individual contractors to target contractors for review. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOL is reluctant to spend the money necessary to generate the data needed for the comparisons necessary to target contractors for review because it questions the intent of Congress to continue the program.
|
| Department of Labor | DOL should remove the outdated $25,000 per year salary limitation in its implementing regulations for contractor job openings, which are to be listed with state job service centers. Removing the limit will increase the number of job openings that are listed with state job service centers and thus will provide additional job opportunities for special disabled and Vietnam-era veterans. |
Closed – Implemented
DOL removed the $25,000 salary limitation from its regulations, 41 CFR 60-250, on January 5, 1995.
|
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Contractor personnelContractorsEmployment agenciesEmployment opportunitiesFair employment programsHiring policiesLabor legislationPersonnel recruitingPeople with disabilitiesVeterans benefitsVeterans employment programs