Modifications to the Regulations Implementing the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as Amended
Key claim: The Labor Department updated federal-contractor veterans-hiring rules by removing references to a revoked 1965 equal-employment order and raising the dollar thresholds that decide which contracts are covered.
Abstract
(Rule · Labor Department, Federal Contract Compliance Programs Office) The U.S. Department of Labor publishes this final rule to revise its implementing regulations for the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended (VEVRAA). These revisions will align the regulations with Executive Order 14173 and remove the VEVRAA regulations’ cross-references to the Executive Order 11246 authority. Executive Order 11246 was revoked by Executive Order 14173 on January 21, 2025. This final rule also makes technical revisions to update the VEVRAA regulations’ jurisdictional thresholds, which were adjusted for inflation by the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council on October 1, 2025.
Why this matters
For federal contractors, this cleans up VEVRAA regulations to reflect the revocation of Executive Order 11246 and refreshes the dollar thresholds that determine which contracts trigger veterans-hiring affirmative-action obligations. Workers covered by VEVRAA (protected veterans) retain their substantive protections, but employers below the updated inflation-adjusted thresholds fall outside coverage. The change is largely conforming rather than a shift in enforcement priorities.