2018 VETS-4212 Filings—More Same Than Different

After all the excitement over the 2018 EEO-1 filings—including the on-and-off-again inclusion of compensation data—the U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) requirements for filing the 2018 VETS-4212 report are largely consistent with prior year filings. The major change for 2018 is that all filers are now allowed to choose December 31, 2017, as the ending date for employee snapshot data. This change has allowed many government contractors to consolidate their data by pulling to a single date, thereby eliminating extra work and expense. Contractors that are not using the December 31, 2017, snapshot date, will need to select a payroll period ending within the time period of July 1 to August 31, 2018.

Items that remain the same for 2018 include the following:

• The filing threshold remains $150,000. A government contractor or subcontractor that has this amount or more in federal contracts must file a VETS-4212 report.
• Government contractors do not have to have a set number of employees to file the VETS-4212 report. The dollar threshold is all that is required.
• Contractors are not required to provide hiring information by EEO-1 category for each hiring location; instead, contractors are required only to provide the total number of hires within the last 12 months and the number of protected veterans hired within the last 12 months.
• There is no requirement for contractors to notify the Department of Labor of mergers and acquisitions. Instead, new locations resulting from mergers or acquisitions may be filed under the existing company number without prior approval.
• The filing deadline for the VETS-4212 2018 report is September 30, as it has been in years past.
• Contractors that are unable to file by September 30, 2018, should still complete their filings, even if after this deadline.
• The four categories of protected veterans are (1) disabled veterans; (2) active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans; (3) armed forces services medal veterans; and (4) recently separated veterans.
• Government contractors do not have to break down their count of protected veterans to show how many are in each of the four categories, but rather only have to provide a total number of protected veterans. This prevents double counting and confusion.
• Contractors filing more than 10 reports are required to file reports electronically. Contractors filing 10 or fewer reports may file paper reports, though electronic versions are preferred.
• The procedure for filing multiple establishment reports remains the same as contractors must file one headquarters report and one report for each location with over 50 employees. Contractors may combine hiring locations with fewer than 50 employees in the same state into a consolidated state report but must file a report for any other hiring location not already covered.
• Current employment information is reported by EEO-1 category, so contractors must ensure that their employees are placed in the proper EEO-1 category.
• Contractors should report remote employees in the hiring location where their managers are located.

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