NT Lakis attorneys have confirmed with the Department of Labor’s Veterans Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS) that the agency plans to open the 2017 filing season for the annual VETS-4212 report on or about August 1, 2017, and that filing procedures will remain the same as last year. The VETS-4212 is a mandatory report that covered federal contractors must file with the agency regarding the employment of protected veterans.
The confirmation of the 2017 VETS-4212 filing season comes at a time of ongoing uncertainty regarding the future of the revised Employer Information (EEO-1) Report, which was expanded by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last year to require the collection and reporting of detailed pay and hours worked data. In making the revisions, the EEOC also changed the annual filing season so that completed EEO-1s for the current cycle will now be due by March 31, 2018, instead of September 30, 2017. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is currently considering requests by a number of employer groups to withdraw its prior approval of the revised EEO-1, and a decision could be coming in the near future.
Regardless of what happens with the EEO-1, covered federal contractors will be required to file the annual VETS-4212 report in 2017 as they have in the past. DOL-VETS has confirmed that the filing specifications and procedures for the 2017 filing cycle are the same as they were last year, with one minor exception: if your company mails in its VETS-4212 reports, there is a new mailing address.
The “VETS-4212 Federal Contractor Reporting” homepage is available here. The deadline for submitting completed 2017 VETS-4212 reports to DOL-VETS is September 30, 2017.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.