November 11, 2015

Senators Manchin, Blunt Introduce Bipartisan Hire Vets Act

WASHINGTON, DC – Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Roy Blunt (MO) today introduced the Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing (HIRE) Veterans Act, legislation creating an annual, tiered recognition program to award employers based on their contributions to veteran employment. 

The HIRE Vets Act would establish a program within the Department of Labor that annually recognizes qualified employers for meeting certain criteria designed to encourage veteran friendly businesses, including: what percentage of new hires, or the overall workforce, is made up of veterans; what types of training and leadership development opportunities are made available; what other benefits and resources are offered, such as tuition assistance; and other factors that demonstrate a commitment to supporting veterans throughout their post-military careers. The recognition would come in the form of a Medallion Certificate, awarded at the gold, silver, or bronze levels, depicting the year of the award and the level at which the employer was awarded based on the size of their business.

“Over the past couple of years, many American businesses, both small and large, have joined the effort to hire Veterans and are now doing their part to reduce the unemployment rate among Veterans,” Senator Manchin said. “This has been tremendous, and I applaud every employer who strives to be veteran-friendly; however, there is no nationally-recognized standard for employers to aspire to, or for future veteran employees to seek out. This bill will change that and is one more step we can take toward making it easier for our servicemen and women to find opportunities not only for good-paying jobs, but for a new start with employers who care.  At the same time, we’ll have the honor to recognize those employers who are doing a fantastic job with providing careers to our heroes.”

“Transitioning to the civilian job market is one of the most daunting challenges our service men and women face. The HIRE Vets Act would help by providing veterans more information on employers who offer benefits and opportunities geared toward veterans’ hiring,” Blunt said. “As we pause to honor our nation’s heroes this Veterans Day, we must ensure they have the resources they need to succeed after their active duty service has ended and acknowledge the local businesses that provide opportunities for them to do so. This common-sense, bipartisan measure would be a step in the right direction.”       

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