A Legislative History of VEVRAA

It’s almost justice, but not quite…

The Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment and Assistance Act (VEVRAA) is a law that establishes affirmative action for some veterans. Although many agencies cite it as originating in 1974, its core language became law in 1972 as Section 503 of the Veterans’ Employment and Readjustment Act (Public Law 92–540). Here is a relevant snapshot of that section;

Detail of Title V, the Veterans Employment and Readjustment Act of 1972

VEVRAA by any other name

Rep. Olin Teague (D-TX6) introduced H.R. 12828 to the House, which unanimously passed the bill on March 6 of that year, and the Senate followed suit five months later on August 3. The bill became law when President Nixon signed it on October 24, 1972. VEVRAA, by another name, was born as Chapter 42 of Title 38 of the United States Code, “Employment and Training of Disabled and Vietnam Era Veterans.”

Two years later, H.R. 12628 proposed small but significant changes to VEVRAA that would bring it firmly within the realm of civil rights. But before it became law, the bill underwent a few name changes and had to overcome a presidential veto. Two changes the bill made introduced affirmative action for veterans. Another two changes gave more comprehensive force to the law by substituting ‘emphasis in’ for ‘employment.’ In other words, veterans deserve more than just window dressing and lip service — they deserve real action. Here is a preview of what eventually became law;

Section 402 of The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974

When introduced by Rep. WJ Bryan Dorn (D-SC3) on February 26, 1974, H.R. 12628 was called “The Veterans’ Education and Rehabilitation Amendments Act.” It reached President Gerald Ford’s desk just after Veterans Day, but he vetoed it a week later. Democrats controlled both chambers, so they were able to override his veto. It is not clear exactly when the title changed, but on December 3, 1974, Public Law 93–508 legalized affirmative action for veterans as “The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974.”

Therefore, the whole of Public Law 93–508 is technically VEVRAA, but it is Section 402 that amended the essential elements of the law as we know it today. Side note: Section 403 of the same law amended VEVRAA by adding a section to Chapter 42, establishing what we now think of as the federal ‘Veterans’ Preference’ in hiring.

VEVRAA Grows Up, Not Out

The next amendment came in 1976 with S.969, introduced by Sen. Vance Hartke (D-IN) on March 5. It took six months to be reported to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, but once it was, it raced through and was signed by Ford on October 15, just a few weeks before he lost the election to Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia. Section 605 of the Veterans’ Education and Employment Assistance Act of 1976 (Public Law 94–502) amended VEVRAA by requiring the Secretary of Labor to report employment and complaint data to Congress. Another thing the 1976 law did was to substitute male pronouns in federal law with gender neutral language.

As I have written about elsewhere, I have found no evidence that the complaint reporting requirement has been met since it became law over four decades ago. The reporting requirement of VEVRAA has never changed; the 1976 language remains in place at 38 U.S.C. § 4212(c);

Section 605 of The Veterans’ Education and Employment Assistance Act of 1976

VEVRAA continued to be amended, but the core of the law can be clearly seen above. In 1978, Section Six of the Veterans’ Administration Programs Extension Act (Public Law 95–520) expanded VEVRAA to protect any veteran receiving VA disability compensation. In 1980, Section 509 of the Veterans’ Rehabilitation and Education Amendments (Public Law 96–466) simplified the complaints paragraph (c) to say:

If any special disabled veteran or veteran of the Vietnam era believes any contractor of the United States has failed to comply or refuses to comply with the provisions of the contractor’s contract relating to the employment of veterans, the veteran may file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor, who shall promptly investigate such complaint and take appropriate action in accordance with the terms of the contract and applicable laws and regulations.

In 1982, Section 310 of the Veterans’ Compensation, Education, and Employment Amendments (Public Law 97–306) added Subsection D to VEVRAA. With this bill, federal contractors had to track and report detailed information on what kind of positions veterans held;

Section 310 of the Veterans’ Compensation, Education, and Employment Amendments of 1980

Bite-sized changes

After these changes, the law remained static for awhile. In 1991, the law was renumbered (from § 2012 of Title 38 to § 4212), and in 1994 Congress deleted some language that exempted senior executive positions from Subsection D reporting. The next amendment did not come until 1998, with Section seven of the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (Public Law 105–339). Those who fought in the First Gulf War were added to VEVRAA’s protections, as well as any veteran “who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized.” The next expansion was in 2001, with the Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act (Public Law 106–419). Section 322 added VEVRAA protections for peacetime non-disabled veterans within one year of discharge.

A big update came in 2002, with Section Two of the Jobs for Veterans Act (Public Law 107–288). Paragraph (a), about qualifying contractors, received a significant update. The only other noteworthy change was that it expanded protections for peacetime, non-disabled veterans from one year after discharge to three years.

The most recent amendment to VEVRAA was in 2012 with Section 708 of the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act (Pubic Law 112–154). All that HAVCCLFA did was to require data related Paragraph (d), on positions held by veterans, to be published online.

Leaving our Battle Buddies behind

Once peacetime non-disabled veterans reach the three year mark from discharge, they are excluded from VEVRAA. According to The National Center for Veterans Analysis & Statistics (NCVAS) “Veteran Population Projection Model,” there were 4,673,664 American peacetime veterans in 2016. The next year, NCVAS released a demographic snapshot titled “Key Statistics by Veteran Status and Period of Service,” which showed that only 10.8% of peacetime veterans (504,755 individuals) had a service-connected disability that qualified them as a “protected veteran” under VEVRAA. That means that the remaining 4,168,908 veterans, or 20.4% of the entire veteran population, are excluded from VEVRAA simply because they 1) did not serve in war and 2) did not have a service connected disability.