Disabled Veterans Affirmative Action Program in the [Redacted] District
Background
The Disabled Veterans Affirmative Action Program (DVAAP) was designed to promote federal employment and advancement opportunities for qualified disabled veterans. Federal government agencies, including the U.S. Postal Service, are required to have affirmative action programs to recruit, employ, and advance disabled veterans. Federal law requires agencies to develop plans to promote the DVAAP and report program accomplishments to the Office of Personnel Management annually.
Postal Service Headquarters personnel oversee the required agency-wide plan for the Postal Service and area and district offices have copies of the plan and must implement their respective responsibilities. To promote the DVAAP, the Postal Service established a veterans coordinator for each district with ad hoc duties that include recruiting and networking activities.
This report responds to a request from Senator Bill Nelson to review concerns regarding how the DVAAP is implemented in the [redacted] District. The objective of our review was to assess the [redacted] District’s compliance with the DVAAP.
What the OIG Found
[Redacted] District officials did not fully comply with the Postal Service’s DVAAP. Specifically, the district veterans coordinator did not always communicate and partner with veterans organizations across the [redacted] District or participate in job fairs in the district to promote the Postal Service as a “Best Place to Work” and “Employer of Choice” as required.
These incidents occurred because the [redacted] District veterans coordinator worked full time as a safety specialist at the [redacted] Processing and Distribution Center. He stated his safety specialist duties limited his time to perform his duties as veterans coordinator; therefore, he was only able to conduct limited outreach activities to areas closest to the duty station [redacted] is the only district in the Southern Area of operations where the veterans coordinator is not a Human Resources employee directly involved in recruiting.
In addition, the [redacted] District Human Resources manager, who is responsible for program oversight, was not aware of the DVAAP or its associated requirements. Therefore, the manager did not oversee, guide, or train the veterans coordinator.
Inadequate oversight, guidance, and training of the district veterans coordinator impeded the [redacted] District‘s ability to effectively recruit, employ, and advance disabled veterans.
What the OIG Recommended
We recommended management evaluate transferring veterans coordinator duties to a Human Resources employee who is directly involved in recruiting, establish oversight procedures to ensure the Human Resources manager and veterans coordinator perform their duties to include the entire district, and train the district Human Resources manager and veterans coordinator on DVAAP policies and procedures.