Monday is Veterans Day, so we wanted to take this opportunity to remind you of some of the laws that regulate employing the men and women who have served our country as well as the opportunities that come along with employing veterans.
The government’s recent focus on veterans’ employment issues, in both Congress and the executive branch, should prompt employers to examine their policies, procedures, and practices with regard to employing veterans. The actions you take can have social and economic implications. 
Recent data on veterans
According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment of veterans has improved over the past year. From February 2011 to February 2012, the unemployment rate for all categories of veterans decreased. Specifically, unemployment among veterans 18 and older decreased from 9.2 percent to 7.0 percent. Among Gulf War-era II veterans (those serving since 9/11), it decreased from 12.5 percent to 7.6 percent. And for Gulf War-era I veterans, who served from August 1990 to August 2001, the decrease was from 8.0 percent to 5.8 percent. In fact, unemployment among veterans is at a lower rate than for nonveterans (8.6% in February 2012).
However, the improvement in the unemployment rate for veterans has not changed the government’s focus on veterans’ employment issues. There are approximately 2.5 million service members either on full-time active duty or in the National Guard or reserves. Some may already have been employed as civilians before they left to enter military service; others may not have been. Nevertheless, all will become veterans when they are deactivated.
USERRA
To get you started on reviewing your policies and practices, we have been advising you over the past few months about your statutory obligations under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), which requires employers to provide certain benefits and rights to employees who left their jobs to serve in our country’s military services and then return to civilian life seeking reemployment. It is essential that you know those rights and obligations and ensure that your supervisors and employees are aware of them as well. Federal law requires employers to notify employees of their rights under USERRA. You may meet this requirement by displaying a notice designed by the DOL in a location where you customarily post employee notices. The notice provides information on the basics of the law.
VOW to Hire Heroes Act
But USERRA isn’t the only statute that creates obligations, rights, and opportunities for the men and women who have served in uniform, for their families, and for employers as well. The most recent law enacted by Congress is the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which was passed in November 2011 and is based on a House proposal, the Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) Act. In another display of the government’s focus on veterans’ employment, this bipartisan effort increases aid for veterans in education and training, job counseling, transition and placement, and disability programs.
The VOW to Hire Heroes Act is also intended to incentivize private employers by providing specific tax credits for hiring certain veterans. The law would provide a tax credit of up to $5,600 for hiring veterans who have been looking for a job for more than six months, a $2,400 credit for hiring veterans who are unemployed for more than four weeks but less than six months, and a tax credit of up to $9,600 for hiring veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been looking for a job for more than six months.
New training program may increase pool of qualified veteran job applicants
In testimony before the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, DOL Assistant Secretary for the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) Keith Kelly informed the subcommittee that VETS had designed the Veterans’ Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP) to train middle-aged (35 to 60) unemployed veterans for available jobs. In developing the program, VETS changed its systems and processes to collaborate with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) in implementing the program. VRAP is administered jointly by the VA and the DOL.
The program, which stems from the VOW Act, intends to improve the transition of veterans into civilian employment and provides funding for up to a year of retraining assistance. More than 63,000 veterans have enrolled in VRAP. In written testimony, VA Deputy Undersecretary for Economic Opportunity Curtis Coy stated that there are 211 high-demand career fields for which qualified veterans are eligible for training. Nearly half pursue training in one of 10 fields: computer support specialist; substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselor; business operations manager; general operations manager; heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanic; heavy and tractor-trailer truck driver; cook; medical assistant; paralegal and legal assistant; and registered nurse.
The VOW Act authorized VRAP benefits to be provided to 54,000 veterans in fiscal year 2013. By August 29, more than 136,000 veterans had applied for VRAP and the VA had issued more than 119,000 certificates of eligibility.
VEVRAA for government contractors
Government contractors are subject to Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), and all other federal, state, and local laws requiring equal employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities, including disabled veterans, and for covered veterans. To comply with those laws, contractors must invite individuals with disabilities and covered veterans to voluntarily identify themselves for affirmative action purposes. Covered veterans include disabled veterans, special disabled veterans, veterans of the Vietnam era, Armed Forces Service Medal veterans, one-year recently separated veterans, three-year recently separated veterans, and other protected veterans. The invitation for employees to self-identify should be posted on bulletin boards and clearly state that the information is voluntarily provided, it will be kept confidential, and failure to provide the information will not subject the individual to adverse treatment. Applicants are presented with the invitation only after a job offer has been extended.
FMLA
As most employers know, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) also serves the veteran community. The FMLA has provided for eligible relatives of military service members to take leave for both qualifying exigencies and to care for wounded warriors since 2008. Congress amended the provisions dealing with leave for military families again in 2009. Generally, the amendments extended the availability of FMLA leave to family members of service members in the regular armed forces for qualifying exigencies due to the service member’s deployment, limited coverage to deployments to foreign countries, and extended FMLA military caregiver leave to family members of recent veterans with serious injuries or illnesses. In February, the DOL proposed regulations to cover those changes.
If adopted, one key change would be to allow eligible employees to take 15 days off when the service member comes home for rest and 
recuperation rather than the five now allowed. The proposed regulation also changes the way leave is calculated. Comments on the proposed regulations are due by April 16. The DOL will consider comments and issue final regulations. We will keep you advised of the final regulations at that time.
Susan M. Webman is of counsel with Fortney & Scott, LLC, practicing in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. She may be contacted at swebman@fortneyscott.com.