It’s that time of year again to start preparing for the annual required VETS-4212 filing. Nothing will change for this year (2017) reporting cycle.  Starting August 1, 2017, contractors will be able to file their 2017 reports through the reporting portal.  Note, anything filed before August 1, 2017 will be recorded as part of the 2016 filing cycle.

While most employers have focused their attention on the new EEO-1 pay data reporting requirements for 2018, and the burden that comes with it, there has been little attention paid to the burden created by two separate reporting periods and two separate submission dates for government contractors required to file both EEO-1 and VETS-4212 reports in 2018 and beyond.  On this lesser focused point, we have some good news to share.

Historically, for the VETS-4212 report, contractors have been required to pull a workforce snapshot between July 1 and August 31 of the year the report is to be filed.  So, if the rules remained the same, for 2018, contractors would pull a workforce report between July 1, 2018 and August 31, 2018 to be filed between August 1, 2018 and September 31, 2018.

However, there is a specific exception, which until now had been granted only on “previous written approval.”  In finalizing the changes to the EEO-1 report in 2017, the EEOC explicitly stated that for government contractors with VETS-4212 reporting obligations, the EEO-1 final notice accompanying the changed EEO-1 reporting serves as a blanket “written approval.”  Therefore, based on the recently received clarification from VETS, government contractors for their reporting in 2018 and going forward, will gain the efficiency of pulling a single data snapshot as of December 31 for reporting on both EEO-1 (filed by 3/31/2018) and VETS-4212 (filed between 8/1 – 9/31/2018) reports.  While the timing of the submission of the reports will remain different, employers looking for efficiencies can use a single snapshot as of the previous year’s December 31st.

And don’t forget that for the VETS-4212 report, in addition to single-day snapshot reporting, contractors also must report on hires for the 12 months preceding their snapshot date.  Therefore if, as an example, you use December 31, 2017 as your snapshot date for your 2018 VETS reporting, you will also then need to pull veteran hiring data for 1/1/2017 through 12/31/2017.

So, to recap for 2018:

• Traditional workforce snapshot needs to be pulled between July 1, 2017 and August 31, 2017

• Exception available to instead pull snapshot as of December 31, 2017.  This snapshot can also be used for EEO-1 filling

• Veteran hiring data needs to be pulled for 12 months preceding snapshot, regardless of date

• EEO-1 filing by March 31, 2018

• VETS-4212 filing between August 1, 2018 and September 31, 2018

While all of this remains confusing, the Agency’s clarification at least helps to lessen the burden for contractors who are looking to streamline their processes as much as they are able, and will likely spawn good questions at next week’s ILG National Conference.