What is a protected veteran on a job application

A federal contract law sets four categories, two of them tied to dates, and tells covered employers when to ask. The form that ended in 2026 was the disability one, not this one.

Some applications ask whether you're a "protected veteran," which isn't the same as being a veteran. The phrase isn't military vocabulary. It comes from VEVRAA, the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act. That federal law applies to employers with federal contracts, and the Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) enforces it. It names four groups, and two of them turn on dates.

Two things make it harder than it looks. The tests depend on dates in your own record. And the rules about who must ask, and what the employer may do with your answer, sit in federal regulation, not in the application's fine print.

One more thing first. If you read in 2026 that the government ended a self-identification form, that was the disability form, known as CC-305. The Labor Department discontinued it on September 21, 2026. The protected veteran invitation is a different rule, and it wasn't amended.

The four categories, and the test before them

Every category starts with the same test: you have to be a veteran. The regulation defines that as a person who served in the active military, naval or air service and was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable. Federal law counts active duty as full-time duty, not active duty for training. The statute also counts a period of active duty for training in which a person was disabled or died. That applies when the cause was a disease or injury incurred or aggravated in the line of duty. Discharge type and proof of service have their own guides: what discharge type means for benefits and proving you're a veteran.

The four categories don't compete. OFCCP says a veteran may qualify in more than one.

A disabled veteran meets one of two tests. Either the person is entitled to VA compensation (or would be, except for receiving military retired pay). Or the person was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability. The wording is "entitled to compensation," and the regulation names no rating percentage. It doesn't say how a 0 percent rating or a pending claim is treated.

An active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran served on active duty during a war, or in a campaign or expedition with a Defense Department-authorized campaign badge. The statute's list of wars includes World War II, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam era and the Persian Gulf War. The Persian Gulf War began August 2, 1990, and the statute ends it on a date set by presidential proclamation or by law. OFCCP's infographic and FAQ give its end as the present, so active duty on or after August 2, 1990 falls inside that war period.

The table's Vietnam-era dates come from the statute. OFCCP's 2016 infographic still shows February 28, 1961 as the start for service in the Republic of Vietnam. Congress changed that date to November 1, 1955 in 2021, and OFCCP's FAQ points to Title 38 for the periods of war.

An Armed Forces service medal veteran took part, on active duty, in a U.S. military operation for which the Armed Forces Service Medal was awarded. OFCCP's infographic asks whether the medal is listed on your DD-214.

A recently separated veteran is any veteran in the three years beginning on the date of discharge or release from active duty.

Which employers have to ask

An employer that puts the question on an application isn't necessarily required to. VEVRAA works in two tiers.

The first tier is every contractor or subcontractor holding a contract of $200,000 or more. These employers can't discriminate against a qualified applicant because of protected veteran status. Their job ads must say that qualified applicants get consideration without regard to it. And they must list most openings with the employment service, which gives protected veterans priority referral. Executive and senior management jobs, jobs filled from within and jobs lasting three days or less can be left out. Our networking guide covers that referral.

The second tier is a contractor with 50 or more employees and a contract of $200,000 or more. The invitation to self-identify sits in subpart C of the regulation, and subpart C applies only to these contractors.

The $200,000 figure is the current one. Several official pages still show older numbers. The statute prints $100,000, and a VETS fact sheet and the Labor Department's employment law guide print $150,000. The Labor Department's rule says the threshold rose from $150,000 to $200,000 on October 1, 2025, under an inflation adjustment. The regulation text that took effect September 21, 2026 prints $200,000.

One more limit applies. The regulation says a Government contract does not include federally assisted contracts.

When you're asked

A second-tier contractor has to invite you twice, at different points, and the two questions aren't the same.

The first comes before any offer. In the Labor Department's own account, this question asks whether you're a protected veteran, not which category. It can be part of the application, but it has to reach you before an offer. The regulation says the contractor "shall invite applicants to inform the contractor whether the applicant believes that he or she is a protected veteran who may be covered by the Act."

The second comes after an offer and before you start the job. The regulation's text says the contractor must invite you to say whether you belong to one or more of the specific categories it reports on. OFCCP's FAQ, last updated July 16, 2025, reads that more loosely. It says contractors aren't required to invite self-identification by category, and may choose to.

Suppose someone identifies as a disabled veteran after the offer. The regulation says the contractor should ask whether an accommodation is necessary. It must also keep a separate file on people who self-identified as disabled veterans.

Your answer: voluntary, confidential, and who sees it

The regulation says each invitation must state four things. The information is requested on a voluntary basis. It will be kept confidential. Refusal to provide it will not subject the applicant to any adverse treatment. And it will not be used in a manner inconsistent with the Act.

After that, three rules apply. The contractor must keep the information confidential. It must give it to OFCCP on request. And the information "may be used only in accordance with this part," meaning the VEVRAA regulations.

The regulations tell a contractor to count the answers. Each year a contractor documents how many applicants self-identified as protected veterans, or are otherwise known to be. It also documents how many protected veteran applicants it hired. It keeps those records for three years. OFCCP says the purpose is to let contractors track how many protected veterans apply and judge whether their outreach works.

The yearly VETS-4212 report to the Labor Department, due September 30, carries totals by job category and hiring location, not names. If an applicant identifies before the offer and doesn't answer again after it, OFCCP's FAQ says the contractor may count the new hire as a protected veteran.

For the general self-identification record, the regulation doesn't say who inside the company can open it. OFCCP's FAQ, in an answer about HR and applicant-tracking systems, says the data must be stored "apart from other personnel information," with access "limited solely to contractor personnel who have a need to know the information for the purpose of complying with OFCCP's regulations," and it doesn't name recruiters or hiring managers.

The separate file on people who identify as disabled veterans after an offer follows a different rule, 60-300.23(d). It treats the file as a confidential medical record. Supervisors and managers may be informed about necessary work restrictions and accommodations. First aid and safety personnel may be informed, when appropriate, if the disability might require emergency treatment. Government officials enforcing OFCCP's laws or the ADA are to be given relevant information on request.

What changed in 2026

The Labor Department published three final rules in the Federal Register on August 21, 2026. Two of them touch this topic, and they touched different questions.

The Labor Department describes the VEVRAA rule as aligning the regulations with Executive Order 14173 and removing cross-references to Executive Order 11246. The rule didn't amend the invitation section, 60-300.42, or the four category definitions. The department says the rule "does not expand DOL's remedial authority, create new causes of action, or establish new enforcement mechanisms."

The disability change is the large one. Before September 21, 2026, a Section 503 contractor had to invite applicants to say whether they believed they had a disability. The standard form was called "Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability" (CC-305). The Labor Department removed that requirement and said it would not keep the form even as an option. OFCCP's forms page now lists the form as discontinued, effective September 21, 2026.

Why did the veteran question survive? The Labor Department says that "the primary purpose of the protected veteran inquiry is to assess whether an individual is a protected veteran, not whether an individual has a disability," and that you can't directly infer a disability from protected veteran status. So it says the question isn't an ADA inquiry. It calls the "disabled veteran" category different from the ADA's definition of disability, and broader in one respect. It also says the Section 503 changes "do not extend to other programs such as VEVRAA."

The disability question, before and after an offer

The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees, whether or not they hold a federal contract. Before an offer, it bars a covered employer from medical examinations. It also bars inquiries about whether an applicant has a disability, or about its nature or severity. The employer may ask whether you can perform job-related functions. The EEOC's guide for veterans adds that even if your disability is obvious, an employer can't ask when, where or how you were injured.

After an offer and before you start, an employer may require a medical exam if all entering employees get one, regardless of disability. The EEOC's veterans guide adds that an employer may ask medical questions as long as everyone else in the same job answers the same questions. The answers go in separate, confidential medical files.

The EEOC and the Labor Department now point different ways on one narrow question. Can an employer invite applicants to volunteer disability information before an offer, for affirmative action?

EEOC, 1995 and 2020. The EEOC's 1995 enforcement guidance (October 10, 1995) says an employer "may invite applicants to voluntarily self-identify for purposes of the employer's affirmative action program" if certain conditions are met. Its November 27, 2020 guide for employers says an employer may ask applicants to voluntarily self-identify as individuals with disabilities or as "disabled veterans" in two cases. One is when it is undertaking affirmative action because of a federal, state or local law that requires affirmative action for individuals with disabilities. The other is when it is voluntarily using the information to benefit individuals with disabilities. The 1995 guidance lists the same two conditions. Both pages were still posted when we checked on October 4, 2026.

Labor Department, August 21, 2026. Its rule says an employer's invitation is a prohibited question before an offer, even when it's called voluntary. In its words: "Even if an applicant may decline to answer, the employer has still posed a prohibited question." The rule also says the department "does not adopt or defer to EEOC enforcement guidance to the extent it suggests that pre-offer disability inquiries are permissible" for affirmative action under Section 503. It says it will not defer to the EEOC's interpretive guidance in the Appendix to 29 CFR part 1630. It also calls other EEOC technical assistance and enforcement guidance unpersuasive if read to authorize mandatory pre-offer disability inquiries.

The rule also says what it does not do. If a contractor believes the ADA gives it a lawful basis to collect disability information before an offer, the department is "not forbidding that practice." It is "simply no longer going to require it." The same goes for inquiries after an offer.

Some things didn't change. Applicants and employees may still disclose a disability at any point, for example when asking for an accommodation. Accommodation rules and the right to file a disability discrimination complaint with OFCCP also stayed.

What the employer owes protected veterans

A covered contractor can't deny an employment opportunity or benefit to a qualified individual because of protected veteran status. It also can't discriminate against that person in other ways. OFCCP's examples of adverse action include not hiring, not promoting, firing and denying a benefit of employment.

Two rules get little attention. First, a contractor can't cut a protected veteran's pay offer because of a military-service or disability pension, or other disability benefit, that the person gets from another source. Second, listing an opening with the employment service doesn't require the contractor to hire any particular applicant or group. The regulation adds that "nothing in this section relieves the contractor from liability for discrimination under the Act," so the invitation doesn't excuse the employer.

Two other laws are easy to confuse with this one. Federal veterans' preference adds points to a passing exam score in federal competitive-service hiring. Our veterans' preference guide covers it. USERRA applies to all employers, bars denying hiring or reemployment because of military service, and requires reemploying a returning employee who meets its criteria. Our Guard and Reserve guide covers it.

If you think an employer broke the rules

A complaint about a federal contractor's treatment of an applicant because of protected veteran status goes to OFCCP. The regulation says to file within 300 days of the date of the alleged violation. OFCCP can extend that for good cause. OFCCP's complaint page says 300 calendar days from the employer's action. You can file with OFCCP or any of its regional, district or area offices. You can also go to the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), directly or through a local veterans' employment representative. The regulation says a complaint must contain documentation showing you're a protected veteran. That documentation must include a copy of your DD-214 and, where it applies, a VA benefits award letter updated within one year before you file.

Other complaints run on other clocks:

• Disability discrimination by a Section 503 contractor, to OFCCP: 300 days.
• An ADA charge with the EEOC: 180 calendar days. It becomes 300 if a state or local agency enforces a law against the same kind of discrimination.
• A USERRA complaint to VETS: no time limit. If you're eligible under both USERRA and VEVRAA, VETS and OFCCP investigate separately.

One example, start to finish

Example (fictional) Elena Castellanos, 28, is an Air Force staff sergeant who leaves active duty on March 12, 2027, with an honorable discharge and no terminal leave. Her DD-214 lists the Armed Forces Service Medal. Assume she isn't entitled to VA compensation and wasn't released from active duty because of a service-connected disability. On May 3, 2027, she applies to two fictional employers. Ridgeline Freight has 140 employees and a $2.4 million federal contract. Harbor Parts has 30 employees and a $350,000 federal contract.

She meets the veteran test: active duty, and a discharge other than dishonorable. She meets three categories. Her three-year window runs from March 12, 2027 into March 2030. Her active duty falls inside the Persian Gulf War period that began August 2, 1990. And her DD-214 lists the service medal, the check OFCCP's infographic points to. On those assumptions she doesn't meet the disabled-veteran test.

Ridgeline has more than 50 employees and a contract over $200,000. So it must invite her, before any offer, to say whether she believes she is a protected veteran. Harbor Parts also holds a contract over $200,000, so it must follow the non-discrimination and job-listing rules. At 30 employees, though, it isn't required to send the invitation.

Between June 1 and July 6, Ridgeline invites her again. OFCCP's FAQ says it may ask by category but doesn't have to.

Her new-hire packet also holds a medical questionnaire that every new warehouse hire gets. After an offer, the EEOC's veterans guide allows medical questions when everyone else in the same job answers the same ones. The packet doesn't include CC-305, which the Labor Department discontinued on September 21, 2026.

Ridgeline then counts the applicants and hires who self-identified. Its yearly report to the Labor Department gives totals by job category and location, not names.

This is general information, not legal advice. OFCCP and the Veterans' Employment and Training Service take complaints about veteran-status discrimination by federal contractors, and the EEOC takes charges under the ADA.