Affirmative Action for Veterans and
Individuals with Disabilities

Employment of women and minorities stems from Executive Order 11246. The Order, which President Johnson issued in 1965, requires a contractor to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed . . .without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin."

Pursuant to the Order, the US Department of Labor has issued guidelines requiring every contractor to establish hiring goals for those job categories in which the contractor is found to be underutilizing women and minorities qualified to perform the requisite job skills.

Affirmative action obligations for federal contractors, however, do not stop with female or minority applicants. The law also requires that contractors take affirmative action in the employment of individuals with disabilities, veterans of the Vietnam era, and qualified disabled veterans.

Under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, any contract in excess of $10,000 between a contractor and a Federal department or agency "shall contain a provision requiring that the party contracting with the United States shall take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with disabilities . . . ."

Additionally, through the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, Congress has imposed a similar obligation on Federal contractors for qualified veterans of the Vietnam era ("eligible veteran[s] any part of whose active military, naval, or air service was during the Vietnam era" and disabled veterans (veterans "entitled to compensation" under regulations of the Department of Labor or persons "discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability").

While the Section 503 and Vietnam Era Veterans affirmative action laws each include guidelines for contractor compliance, the guidelines are less detailed than those issued under Executive Order 11246. A contractor who fails to comply with any of these affirmative action requirements, however, may be precluded from entering into subsequent contracts with Federal departments or agencies.

Published in the Fall 1996 Edition of In Brief