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Veterans' Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS)
Practical Law Glossary Item 3-583-2806 (Approx. 4 pages)
Glossary
Veterans' Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS)
A federal office within the Department of Labor (DOL) responsible for enforcing laws that protect the rights of military service members and give preference to certain veterans in federal employment, including:
- The Veterans' Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA).
USERRA prohibits discrimination against past, current, and prospective members of the uniformed services and protects the rights of returning service members to be reemployed in their civilian jobs. VEOA provides remedies for veterans who allege that a federal agency has violated their veterans' preference rights. A person who believes their USERRA or VEOA rights have been violated may file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor (38 U.S.C. § 4322, 5 U.S.C. § 3330a(a)(2)). The Secretary of Labor's responsibilities under USERRA and VEOA have been delegated to DOL-VETS.
Under USERRA and VEOA, DOL-VETS is responsible for:
- Informing potential claimants about their rights.
- Investigating and resolving complaints of discrimination against service members or that an individual's reemployment rights or veteran's preference rights were violated.
- Referring meritorious cases under USERRA to:
- the Department of Justice (DOJ), which litigates USERRA cases before a federal district court on behalf of private sector employees and employees of state and local governments; or
- the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which litigates USERRA cases before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) on behalf of federal government employees.
- Referring meritorious VEOA cases to OSC for review as potential prohibited personnel practices (PPPs).