20 Years of VEVRAA 🐄💩
Twenty Years of VEVRAA bullshit in one graphic.
Between 2000 and 2020, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contacts Compliance Program (OFCCP) heard from more veterans about employment discrimination than any other group it is supposed to protect.
According to data acquired under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, 807 complaints of employment discrimination were received by OFCCP, for an average of three complaints every month. That number includes class complaints of multiple complainants, so the number of individual protected veterans affected is likely even higher.
The first two decades of the 21st century saw more employment discrimination complaints by veterans than any other group under the Department of Labor’s jurisdiction.
The only jurisdiction OFCCP has is over employers with government contracts, hence the “Federal Contracts” in its name. Executive Order 11246 (EO11246), signed into law on September 25, 1965, prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (Sec.503), signed on September 26, 1973, prohibits employment discrimination based on dis/ability.
In private workplaces, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991 created redundancies for EO11246 and Sec. 503, respectively. The Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is tasked with enforcement, but veterans are excluded from its protections. In other words,
Private employers are not prohibited from discriminating against veterans.
The Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment and Assistance Act (VEVRAA), signed on December 3, 1974, created affirmative action for some veterans, but it doesn’t even come close to being effective. Ignoring the weaknesses in the law, OFCCP has shown that it simply does not believe veterans when they allege employment discrimination. Although veterans alleging employment discrimination made up its largest single complainant group, OFCCP denied their claims twice as much as some other groups.
Out of 649 EO11246 complaint investigations closed between 2000 to 2020, about 105 were found to have merit; representing an enforcement rate of 16.33%
Out of 49 uncategorized investigations, nearly six were found to have merit; an enforcement rate of 12.24%
Out of 757 Sec. 503 investigations, about 80 were found to have merit; an enforcement rate of 10.57%
Out of 807 VEVRAA investigations, only 60 were found to have merit; an enforcement rate of just 7.56%
Despite the fact that VEVRAA doesn’t even protect all veterans; despite the fact that private sector employers can discriminate with impunity; despite the fact that military service stigmatizes seeking help… hundreds of veterans defied the odds by filing complaints of employment discrimination.
They spoke up only to be turned down by an enforcement agency that doesn’t really protect them in the first place. The federal government rewards their bravery by telling them they’re just making shit up, forcing veterans to endure hostile work environments and employers they’ve just pissed off.
Need a human face to put on this? Read about MAJ Steve Hutchison.
