September 6, 2007
VA subcommittee explores persistent under-representation of veterans in workforce
“The federal government has a special obligation to make veterans part of its work force,” said Ranking Member John Boozman (R-Ariz.). “According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management report on veterans’ employment in the federal work force for 2005, veterans comprise 27 percent of federal full time permanent employees. However, that is not enough. Unfortunately, many large federal agencies show little progress in hiring veterans and there is a need for more agencies to renew their efforts to employ veterans.”
“If I am disappointed, it is that agencies do not make better use of the special hiring authorities such as Veterans Recruitment Appointment (VRA) to hire even more veterans,” Boozman said.
Depending on the veteran’s service, he or she is eligible for either a five- or a ten-point preference, which is added to the veteran’s passing score on the civil service examination. An agency must select from the top three candidates (known as the Rule of 3) and may not pass over a veteran in favor of a lower ranking non-veteran without sound reasons that relate directly to the veteran’s fitness for employment. However, veteran’s preference does not guarantee a job because an agency is still obligated to hire the best person for the position.
In 1998, The Veterans Employment Opportunity Act was established, giving veterans access to federal job opportunities that might otherwise be closed to them. It established a new redress system for veterans eligible for preference. The act makes it a prohibited personnel practice for an agency to knowingly take or fail to take a personnel action if that action or failure to act would violate a statutory or regulatory veterans’ preference requirement.
“Reading OPM’s website sections devoted to veterans’ preference is not an easy task – probably because of the multiple laws, hiring authorities and programs in effect for veterans and non-veterans,” Boozman said. “I cannot understand why some in the federal government do not see the value in hiring veterans. VA and the military services have overall good records relative to hiring veterans, but I think we could help them and other agencies do even better while not tying the hands of the human resources staff.”
For more news from House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Republicans, please go to:
http://republicans.veterans.house.gov/