ARE VETERANS GETTING THEIR PREFERENCE?

Thomas F. Mazza, Department Commander

Not long ago, we were receiving numerous complaints from veterans seeking governmental employment alleging that certain agencies' hiring practices were in direct violation of veterans preference laws and regulations; that veterans were being denied preference across the board.

Now, if we can believe the reported new study from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), it concludes that Federal agencies are properly implementing veterans preference in their hiring decisions.

Here's the essence of the study:

OPM looked at the fiscal 1999 hiring practices of selected parts of nine departments and five agencies, including the Departments of Interior and Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency, to ensure they did not discriminate against veterans when hiring.

"Federal agencies are fully and fairly considering veterans' preference eligibles in their hiring decisions and are not misusing staffing flexibilites to intentionally avoid hiring veterans. Overall, "no substantive changes" need to be made to agencies' hiring processes to ensure that veterans are treated fairly, the report said.

The Veterans' Preference Act of 1944 allows veterans to receive preference over other candidates in the government's competitive hiring process. Under the act, veterans also receive retention preference during reductions in force. The Veteran's Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 made violating veterans' preference rules a prohibited personnel practice. Managers can be fined, suspended, reduced in grade or terminated for such practices.

When agencies seek to fill a position, human resources departments compile a list of the most highly qualified candidates. Qualified veterans are given extra points in the hiring process, meaning they can rank higher on a candidate list than an equally qualified nonveteran. Hiring managers choose a candidate from the list. However, here's the rub; if they are dissatisfied with the list, in which case they can request a revised list from the personnel department, and if supervisors want to avoid hiring veterans they could advertise a position at several grade levels so they can choose a candidate from one list while failing to consider a veteran who appears on another list, said OPM. Agencies included in the study have agreed to stop using multiple lists for individual positions and have pledged to follow OPM guidance.

Human resources (HR) officials generally understood that their responsibility is to ensure veterans are treated fairly in the hiring process, and have provided HR specialists with training in the area of veterans' preference, the report said.

According to OPM, the percentage of veterans hired by the federal government through the competitive hiring process has grown steadily since fiscal 1995. The percentage of veterans in the federal workforce is twice that of the private sector.

Sounds good. However, we invite any veteran who has been denied preference to notify us of the circumstances of the denial. Let's check the matter out. Could OPM be pulling the wool over our eyes?

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