For the first time, federal contractors must set specific goals for the hiring of veterans and of people with disabilities to improve employment prospects for those groups, according to two final rules announced by the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

The new rules, originally proposed in 2011, update the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

The regulations set goals for covered contractors to aim for about 8% veteran employment and 7% employment of people with disabilities in the workplace.

Covered contractors are those who have a federal contract of $100,000 or more awarded since December 2003. That refers to a single contract, not an aggregated total.

The rules are expected to impact about 200,000 federal contractors, Labor officials said.

For disabled people, the Labor Department suggests a 7% goal for each labor category. If a contractor has fewer than 100 employees, the 7% goal applies to the entire workforce, according to Bloomberg BNA.

Both sets of final rules have new data collection, outreach, recruitment, and self-identification requirements.

While the rules have been praised by advocates for disabled people, the Associated General Contractors of America criticized the provisions as unnecessary and burdensome.

“These rules will force federal contractors to spend an estimated $6 billion a year to produce reams of new paperwork proving they are doing what the federal government already knows they are doing,” the contractors’ group said in a statement on its website.

OFCCP strongly disputed that estimate, saying the regulations would cost covered contractors between $349 million and $660 million the first year, and $162 million to $480 million in the following years.

More information: Labor Dept. announcements: VEVRAA http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/vevraa.htm
Section 503 http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/section503.htm
Proskaur Rose legal alert: http://goo.gl/yFppK0
Bloomberg BNA report: http://goo.gl/TulKeq