Good morning. If you've ever looked up whether a federal job drags paperwork in behind it, you looked up the wrong number. The government's own rulebook has been printing it wrong for years — and it says so, on another page of its own website.
Top story — the printed threshold is half the real one
Two Labor Department final rules published on 21 August take effect on 21 September. Most of the coverage is about what they cut. The more useful part is what they fix.
Read 41 CFR 60-300.1(b) on ecfr.gov today — the rule that decides whether a federal contract or subcontract makes you a covered contractor for veterans — and it says "$100,000 or more." Read 41 CFR 60-741.1(b), the disability equivalent, and it says "in excess of $10,000."
Neither number is live. Under 41 U.S.C. 1908 the FAR Council re-prices these thresholds for inflation every five years, and the last round took effect 1 October 2025: VEVRAA went $150,000 → $200,000 and Section 503 went $15,000 → $20,000 (90 FR 41872). The regulations were never updated. DOL admits it in writing on its VETS-4212 page: "While OFCCP's regulations at 41 CFR 60-300 and 41 CFR 60-741 do not currently reflect these inflationary adjustments, OFCCP has adopted the FAR Council's adjusted thresholds."
So the printed rule is wrong by half, has been for eleven months, and on 21 September the VEVRAA text finally catches up — $200,000 written into eight separate provisions at once. Practical effect for a shop: the $175,000 federal subcontract you took last winter never made you a covered contractor. And the clause that does catch trades firms isn't a prime contract at all — it's the flow-down at 60-300.5(a)(11), which the GC has to put in every subcontract or purchase order of $200,000 or more.
Quick hits
The disability side loses its goal. The veterans side keeps everything. Effective 21 September, Section 503's 7% utilization goal (41 CFR 60-741.45) is removed and reserved, and so is 60-741.42, the rule requiring you to invite applicants and employees to identify their disability status. DOL declined every alternative commenters offered, writing that it "declines to retain the utilization goal and related analyses in any form." VEVRAA's equivalents — the hiring benchmark at 60-300.45 and its self-identification and data-collection provisions — were not touched. Same day, same agency, opposite direction. Don't assume one rescission covers both.
Three dollar lines, one job. Section 503 nondiscrimination starts at $20,000. Section 503's written affirmative action program starts at 50 employees and $50,000 (60-741.40(b)(1)). VEVRAA — nondiscrimination, the EO clause and the AAP alike — starts at $200,000, with the AAP also needing 50 employees (new 60-300.40(a)). One contract can put you over one line and under another.
Under 150 people? Your record-retention just halved. The rewritten 60-300.80(a) keeps two-year retention as the default, but sets one year for a contractor with fewer than 150 employees or no government contract of at least $200,000. That covers most shops reading this. Applications, resumes, interview notes, job postings, accommodation requests, pay records.
The Tip — file the VETS-4212 before 30 September, and don't count your crews
This is the one with a real date on it. If you held a covered federal contract or subcontract in the last calendar year, the VETS-4212 report is due no later than 30 September (41 CFR 61-300.10(c)); the window opened 1 August and DOL confirms the 2026 cycle is running. Three things make it faster than it looks:
One: most of your field staff probably aren't in the count. The regulation's definition of "employee" at 41 CFR 61-300.2(b)(5) expressly excludes "persons at a construction site whose employment relationship is expected to terminate with the end of the employee's work at the site." A shop with 14 permanent staff and 90 job-site hires does not report 104.
Two: you pick the date. The headcount can be taken as of the end of any pay period between 1 July and 31 August of the filing year (61-300.10(d)(1)). Pick the one you already have clean payroll for.
Three: keep the confirmation email. DOL says the filing confirmation "should be used as verification of submission by federal contracting officers when obligating funds to an awarded contract." That is a contracting officer holding up your money over a form. Put it in the job file.
Tool watch — [Not sponsored]
DOL runs a free eligibility wizard that answers "do I even have to file this" in about four minutes: the elaws VETS-4212 Federal Contractor Reporting Advisor at webapps.dol.gov/elaws/vets/4212. It's free, it's the agency's own, and nobody is selling you anything at the end of it.
One habit worth picking up while you're on ecfr.gov: any section that's about to change carries a grey line reading "Link to an amendment published at…" directly under the heading. Both sections in today's story have one. If it's there, the text underneath it is already out of date.
That's the callout. See you next time.
The Callout — the business brief for the trades. We label every commercial placement: [Sponsor], [Affiliate], or [Not sponsored]. Today's Tool watch is our own honest read — no one paid for it. 231J Ramparts Road, Te Anau 9600, New Zealand · Unsubscribe anytime.
Sources: Federal Register — VEVRAA final rule, 91 FR 54234 (21 Aug 2026) · Federal Register — Section 503 final rule, 91 FR 54482 (21 Aug 2026) · Current text — 41 CFR 60-300.1 (eCFR) · Current text — 41 CFR 60-741.1 (eCFR) · Current text — 41 CFR part 61-300, VETS-4212 (eCFR) · DOL VETS — VETS-4212 Federal Contractor Reporting (threshold + filing cycle) · FAR Council — Inflation Adjustment of Acquisition-Related Thresholds, 90 FR 41872 (27 Aug 2025, effective 1 Oct 2025) · elaws VETS-4212 Advisor