$35 Million in job training grants will help more than 16,000 veterans overcome homelessness and secure employment

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez announced today the award of more than $35 million in grants to provide an estimated 16,000 veterans with job-driven training for in-demand jobs to help them successfully transition from homelessness to sustainable housing and good civilian jobs.

“In cities like Salt Lake City, Houston and Phoenix, through partnerships and the aggressive delivery of supportive services, we have shown that veteran homelessness is not a reality we have to accept,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “The Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program has proven time and again that it can be effective in helping veterans overcome obstacles to employment and sustainable housing, and they deserve nothing less.”

The Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program is awarding funds competitively to state and local workforce investment boards, local public agencies and nonprofit organizations, and tribal governments, including faith-based and community organizations. Homeless veterans may receive occupational, classroom and on-the-job training, as well as job search and placement assistance, including follow-up services. HVRP is the only federal program that focuses exclusively on employment of veterans who are homeless.

Grantees in the HVRP program network coordinate their efforts with various local, state and federal social service providers. To learn more about the U.S. Department of Labor’s unemployment and re-employment programs for veterans, visit www.dol.gov/vets. For more information on this grant announcement, please contact the department’s Cassandra Mitchell at 202-693-4589.

Click here for the list of 2015 award recipients.

Source: DOL

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

New rule streamlines reporting requirements on veterans' employment and hiring for federal contractors

On September 25, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor published a final rule that reduces reporting requirements for federal contractors and subcontractors who hire and employ veterans under provisions of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974.

"Over the next decade, this change will result in a significant reduction in paperwork burden for federal contractors and subcontractors," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans' Employment and Training Keith Kelly. "In addition to easing the burden on contractors, the data collected by these reports will help the Labor Department develop more informative yearly trends in the employment of protected veterans."

The final rule revises the VETS-100A Report and renames it the VETS-4212 Report. The VETS-100 Report will no longer be used. The VETS-4212 Report requires contractors to report specified information on protected veterans in their workforce in the aggregate, rather than for each category of veterans protected under the statute, reducing the required reporting elements by almost half, from 82 to 42. Under VEVRAA, the term "protected veterans" includes: disabled veterans, veterans who served on active duty during a war or campaign for which a campaign badge was authorized, veterans who were awarded an Armed Forces Service Medal and recently separated veterans.

Under this final rule, the department will receive valuable information on the number of protected veterans employed by federal contractors and the job categories in which they work. We estimate that this rule will ultimately result in substantial savings for contractors — approximately $18.2 million over a 10-year period.

Source: DOL VETS

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

Veterans Employment Center Web Portal Launched

A Veterans Employment Center web portal that will help simplify job searches for veterans and transitioning military service members was launched by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden on April 23^rd at a Fort Campbell, KY jobs summit.

The Veterans Employment Center, an integrated, online tool connecting veterans, transitioning service members and their spouses with both public and private-sector employers, is the result of an interagency effort to improve, simplify and consolidate the current array of employment resources for veterans. Additionally, this will provide one comprehensive database of resumes for employers who are seeking to leverage the skills and talents of veterans, service members, and their spouses.

"Our service members haven't always had the time or information they needed to prepare their resumes, to plot their career goals, to meet with employers and get the jobs they deserve. And that's simply not acceptable," said First Lady Michelle Obama. "As my husband has said, when you've fought for this country around the world, you shouldn't have to fight for a job when you return home. Starting today, every single service member, every veteran, and every military family will have access to a new online tool that will revolutionize how you find jobs in both the public and private sectors. All you have to do is log on to ebenefits.va.gov."

"Veterans deserve an authoritative source for connecting with employers," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "The online Veterans Employment Center is the single, federal source for veterans looking for new career opportunities, service members transitioning to the civilian workforce, and spouses and beneficiaries looking to connect with job opportunities."

"Our service members transitioning to civilian life, as well as their spouses, deserve the resources they need to be successful," said Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. "Through this effort, they are getting that help. Our troops and their spouses are proven leaders, highly-skilled and hard-working. Employers hiring them are getting the best this nation has to offer."

"Improving veterans' employment is an all-hands-on-deck enterprise," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez. "With more than 1 million service members projected to leave the military in the coming years, the Veterans Employment Center, along with the wealth of services the Department of Labor offers through its 2,500 American Job Centers, will connect our veterans and service members with both public and private sector employers eager to hire those with military experience."

"OPM's USAJobs program is excited to be partnering with the VA on making this a robust tool for our nation's veterans and transitioning service members seeking Federal employment," said OPM Director, Katherine Archuleta. "It has been more than four years since President Obama established the Veterans Employment Initiative and, in that time, the Executive Branch of Government hired the highest percentage of military veterans in more than 20 years – of the 195,000 new employees hired in FY 2012, approximately 56,000 were veterans, equaling 28.9 percent of total hires. We can continue to honor and show our appreciation for the dedicated and heroic service of America's veterans by ensuring that they have every opportunity to continue their service to this great nation as Federal civilian employees. The Veterans Employment Center helps us honor these men and women by making employment opportunities available when our servicemen and women lay down their uniforms."

The Veterans Employment Center will provide employers with access to a targeted pool of resumes from veterans and transitioning service members, allowing them to search resumes to identify veterans with skill sets applicable to civilian employment at their organization, and to track progress towards reaching their veteran hiring goals. Resumes are visible to all employers with an active LinkedIn or Google profile. To prevent spam, an applicant's name and email address are redacted and only visible to employers verified by the VA as registered companies with the IRS.

Source:  U.S. Department of Labor

 This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

New Vets-4212 form to replace Vets-100A

The Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) submitted a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPR) to the Federal Register “to propose revisions to the regulations implementing the reporting requirements under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended, (“VEVRAA”).” The proposed rule is intended to simplify the reporting requirements that federal contractors have to meet. Here are the highlights of the proposed changes:

The proposed changes  include to eliminate the VETS-100 form; use the new VETS-4212 form (draft form is available here); the new VETS-4212 form would include the same veteran classification terms and; eliminate the requirement for employers to collect hiring information on each sub-category of protected veteran because some veterans qualify in more than one category.

The new regulation would eliminate double counting and eliminate the possible, inadvertent identification of disabled veterans, etc. By the time the regulations become effective, employers would only need to collect information for the aggregated number of “protected veterans”.

Source: VETS

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

Patricia Shiu Twitter Conversation on VEVRAA and Section 503

This Friday, September 13 join the Conversation on Twitter: #AccessJobs

In August, the Department of Labor announced two final rules to improve the hiring and employment of veterans and people with disabilities.

One rule updates requirements under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, or VEVRAA. The other updates requirements under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. You can read Secretary Tom Perez’s blog post about the rules here.

Join the department (@USDOL) for a Twitter chat this Friday, Sept. 13, from 2-3 p.m. EDT to discuss these new rules. You’ll have the chance to ask policy experts questions about what these rules mean for federal contractors and for job seekers.

Officials from the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) will participate in the conversation, as well as special guests from the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the U.S. Business Leadership Network (USBLN) and The American Legion.

Tweet using the hashtag #AccessJobs to join the discussion between 2 and 3 p.m. EDT Friday, or to submit your questions in advance. You can also submit questions by emailing them to OFCCP-Public@dol.gov. 

Source: DOL OFCCP

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

Tearing Down Walls that Keep Veterans from Good Jobs

by Tony Camilli on August 20, 2013

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Some of us remember exactly where we were at the time that President Reagan made that monumental statement during his speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. It was a momentous occasion for many people, including the millions of Berliners who had been involuntarily separated from each other for 28 years.

What’s that got to do with the Labor Department, you ask? Well, that quote made me think about other walls that must be torn down. They’re not physical walls, like the one that split Berlin, but they still separate a certain group of people from their livelihood in another way.

I’m talking about the arbitrary “walls” that keep our veterans from receiving employment credentials and getting licenses in their fields of expertise once they separate or retire from military service. Employment and training professionals around the nation believe that demolishing these walls would lead to a significant decrease in veteran unemployment. That’s because employers know that service members and veterans have many valuable “soft skills” in areas such as leadership, commitment and a can-do attitude. But what is often missing for our service members and veterans to “get the job” is a required credential or license.

The first step toward tearing down these walls was the passage of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act in 2011, which required multiple federal agencies to take a hard look at what must be done. To do this, the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration and its Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, along with colleagues from the Department of Defense, have partnered with the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices to compare the training and skills required by our service members with those required by state licensing boards. The center is conducting a credentialing demonstration project to help state agencies identify civilian equivalencies in military training, fill gaps where there are additional civilian credentialing requirements, and find ways to accelerate the civilian credentialing process. In addition, the Labor Department is part of a multi-agency task force that the president created to focus solely on this issue.

The good news is that we’re starting to see some significant cracks in these walls all over America. For example, 43 states now offer a military skills test waiver for obtaining a commercial driver’s license. At least seven states are now granting credentialing and/or licensing credit for service members with military emergency medical technician training. And similar efforts are being made by many more states to expedite credentialing and licensing for EMTs as well as licensed practical nurses based upon military training and experience. More updates can be found on the White House’s Joining Forces website.

As the president has stated, “If you can save a life on the battlefield, you can save a life in an ambulance. If you can oversee a convoy or millions of dollars of assets in Iraq, you can help manage a supply chain or balance its books here at home.”

We owe our veterans more than just a word of thanks and a pat on the back. At the Labor Department, we aim to thank them by helping them get back to work. It’s time to tear down the walls that keep veterans from the good jobs that they’re qualified for.

Tony Camilli is a strategic outreach specialist in the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, an agency of the Labor Department.

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

VETS having problems with VETS filing system yet again this year!

According to VETS: We anticipate that the systems will be available to filers later next week. We are asking filers to please check back with the filing system(s) periodically after the 15th of August. Also, the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Contact Center (NCC) should be available to assist filers beginning on or around that date also. They can be reached by telephone at:
1-866-237-0275. We apologize for any inconvenience, and thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

William E. Coughlin
Investigative Analyst, Office of Compliance, Investigations & Research Veterans' Employment & Training Service (VETS) U.S. Department of Labor | www.dol.gov/vets
200 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20210
Phone: (202) 693-4715 Fax: (202) 693-4755

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

 

Department of Labor awards more than $5 million in job training grants to help 1,900 homeless women veterans, veterans with families

The Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service today announced the award of 22 grants, totaling more than $5 million, to provide about 1,900 homeless female veterans and veterans with families with job training to help them succeed in civilian careers. The grants are being awarded under the department’s Homeless Female Veterans and Veterans with Families Program. 
       
"These grants will offer the opportunity for a better life, providing the training and skills needed to find a job and housing,” said Secretary of Labor Tom Perez. “Our veterans have sacrificed for our nation, and job training programs offer them a path to participation in society and success in the workplace.”

The services provided by grantees will include job placement, on-the-job and classroom training, career counseling, life skills and money management mentoring, as well as help in finding housing. VETS estimates that these funds will help approximately 1,900 veterans.

Funds are being awarded on a competitive basis to state and local workforce investment boards, local public agencies and nonprofit organizations, including faith-based and community organizations. These grantees are familiar with the areas and populations to be served and have demonstrated that they can administer effective programs to help homeless veterans.

Click here for the list of grant awardees.

Source: DOL

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

 

We Stand Up for Women Veterans

by Ariel Batungbacal- Jenny Erwin- Tonya Thompson on July 17, 2013

When we meet a woman veteran, we are often shocked because she defies our expectations: our expectations of who she is, our expectations of what she is capable of and where she has been … and most of all, our expectations of WHO a veteran is.

Acknowledging these fundamental questions is at the very heart of what has become known here at the Labor Department as the Women Veterans Initiative, a program designed to tackle the problem of women veterans unemployment head on. These questions reflect the spirit of our approach, which is about so much more than programmatic tweaks or minor administrative changes. It is about recasting the very essence of how we approach the challenges women veterans face when they transition to civilian employment. We ask the same questions some women veterans ask themselves, and the answers take us to new and unexpected places.



In 2012, 8.3 percent of women veterans faced unemployment, while male veteran unemployment dropped to 6.9 percent and women non-veterans to 7.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent annual report on veterans employment. While the statistical sample for women veterans is small, the fact that their unemployment rate did not decline in similar measure to their counterparts reinforces the urgent need to take bold action.

A renewed emphasis on women veterans employment issues began in 2009, when the department saw increasing homelessness among women veterans. This led to ensuring resources address this issue, including the new Trauma-Informed Care for Women Veterans Experiencing Homelessness guide, as well as approximately $8.6 million in reintegration grants for homeless women veterans and veterans with children.

In September, 2012, then-Secretary Hilda Solis proposed a vision for the Women’s Veterans Initiative that would include a tiger team to jump-start efforts and set out on a mission to determine the distinct challenges for women veteran employment, identify the department services needed to close the gap and elevate women veterans issues among stakeholders and the public.

Over the past several months, the three of us have worked together to get the program up and running, representing the Labor Department’s Office of the Secretary, its Veterans’ Employment and Training Service and its Women’s Bureau. In addition to participating in numerous national and local forums to bring attention to the issue, we recently held two events at Labor Department headquarters to lay the foundation for this cutting-edge program. One session with women veterans who are employees of the department provided insight into their success strategies for employment in the federal workforce as well as what other resources/approaches would be useful.

The second event was a listening session with more than 100 advocates, veterans service organizations and community groups to better understand the employment challenges of the women they serve, and best practices they have found effective. Video from the event is available on the recently launched Women Veterans Initiative Web page.

There are currently 2.2 million women veterans and that number is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years. It is imperative that we work with sister federal agencies, state and local organizations, and stakeholders to stand up for women veterans. We have seen a tremendous amount of energy and support for the new initiative so far, and there are many more efforts underway. All veterans deserve good jobs, and we at the Labor Department will continue to honor their service by doing all we can to help them find meaningful careers.

Ariel Batungbacal is a White House Fellow in the Office of the Secretary of Labor. Jenny Erwin is a senior adviser to the department’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service. Tonya Thompson is a program analyst in the department’s Women’s Bureau.

Source: DOL

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

Supporting Our Service Women

The service of women in American war efforts is older than our nation itself. Women served as battlefield nurses, cannon loaders, spies and more during the American Revolution. Through two World Wars, tens of thousands of army nurses served overseas to care for the wounded. Some 7,000 women served in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and 40,000 by the first war in the Persian Gulf. The most dramatic shift occurred in the last decade, with 200,000 women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the role of women in the military progressed further in January, when the defense secretary announced that our military will officially end its restrictions on women in combat roles exclusively held by men.

Throughout our 100-year history, the Labor Department has stood with our service women, and provided the reintegration services they needed upon returning home. While all veterans and their families deserve our utmost care and attention, women are the fastest-growing demographic within the veterans community and they often face unique challenges in the labor market. Even though women veterans are more likely to have completed some college, a bachelor’s degree or an advanced degree than men, they’re also more likely to have a service-connected disability rating, less likely to be insured and more likely to have no earnings or income – factors that can lead to poverty and homelessness.

New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Situation of Veterans report, issued yesterday, helps us understand the areas of need within the population of women veterans, and informs our collaborative efforts to provide the job training and employment services on which women veterans depend. According to the report, the 2012 average unemployment rate for women veterans is 8.3 percent, down from 9.1 in 2011, and it is 6.9 percent for veterans who are men, down from 8.3 in 2011. For comparison to the larger population, the 2012 average unemployment rate for women who are not veterans is 7.7 percent, and it is 8.1 for men. One reason for veterans’ improving numbers may be that the economy has been steadily growing, and more people are finding jobs.

For veterans who served from September 2001 to the present − the “Gulf War II” era − the 2012 average unemployment rate was 12.5 percent for women, which was virtually unchanged from 2011, and it was 9.5 percent for men, down from 12.0 in 2011. The reason for these higher rates involves multiple factors. One may be that many Gulf War II-era vets are relatively young, and younger people have higher unemployment rates. Also, we know that many veterans (men and women) tend to work for the government. Most federal, state and local government agencies have been dealing with budget problems for the past several years, and we’re experiencing the only economic recovery that has seen a loss in government jobs. Government agencies simply can’t hire as many new employees, and this particularly affects younger veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The department’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service administers a number of services and programs, with input from the Women’s Bureau, that provide transition assistance to veterans seeking rewarding careers in the civilian workforce. One tool, My Next Move for Veterans, is an online resource that allows veterans to enter their military occupation code and discover civilian occupations for which they are well qualified. Gulf War II-era veterans also can download the Gold Card, which entitles them to enhanced services − including six months of personalized case management, assessments and counseling − at the roughly 2,800 American Job Centers located across the country. Additionally, the Women’s Bureau is the federal agency leading the charge to tackle women veteran homelessness. Through “stand downs” with women veterans and ongoing research, the bureau developed the Trauma-Informed Care for Women Veterans Experiencing Homelessness: A Guide for Service Providers to help address this issue.

Women veterans are not only warriors and pioneers, but also mothers, caregivers, wives and daughters with urgent economic needs and challenges. They are our sisters-in-arms, and we owe them not only our gratitude, but our unwavering support.

Source: DOL - Keith Kelly is the assistant secretary of the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service and Latifa Lyles is the acting director of the department’s Women’s Bureau.

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

Reminder – EEO-1 Report Filing is Due September 30

There has been no change to the EEO-1 Report filing deadline.   This annual report must be filed no later than September 30 unless a specific extension request has been made.

Although the filing deadline for VETS-100 reports in the 2012 cycle has been extended to October 31, 2012, THERE HAS BEEN NO CHANGE TO THE FILING DUE DATE ON EEO-1 Reports.

For more information on the VETS-100 / EEO-1 reporting services offered by THOMAS HOUSTON associates, inc., please call (800) 330-9000 or click here to schedule a convenient time to receive a call from a member of our Sales Team.

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.

Program launches to retrain 99,000 unemployed veterans

Source: Vets News Release


Unemployed veterans between the ages of 35 and 60 can now apply for new benefits to cover education costs for up to one year through a joint U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Department of Labor program that focuses on retraining 99,000 veterans for high-demand jobs.

As part of a provision of the Veterans Opportunity to Work to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 (known as VOW), the Veteran Retraining Assistance Program allows qualifying veterans to receive up to 12 months of assistance equal to the full-time Montgomery GI Bill — Active Duty rate, currently $1,473 per month.
Veterans can apply on a first-come, first-serve basis for VRAP for programs that begin on or after July 1, 2012. Assistance under this benefit program ends on March 31, 2014.

To complete an application, a veteran will need to know his or her direct deposit information (bank routing number and account number), the name and location of his or her school, the program the veteran wishes to pursue and the applicable high-demand occupation.
To qualify, veterans must:

• Be 35-60 years old, unemployed on the day of application and not dishonorably discharged.
• Start education or training after July 1, 2012, in a VA-approved program of education offered by a community college or technical school leading to an associate degree, non-college degree or a certificate for a high-demand occupation as defined by the Department of Labor.
• Not be eligible for any other VA education benefit program (e.g., Post-9/11 GI Bill, Montgomery GI Bill, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment).
• Not be enrolled in a federal or state job training program within the last 180 days.
• Not receive VA compensation at the 100 percent rate due to individual unemployability.

Upon completion, the Labor Department will engage with participants within 30 days after their training to help them find good jobs that utilize their newly learned skills.
　
Read the full News Release

This information is intended to be educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.