Veterans Preference

Applicants/employees who are eligible veterans or eligible spouse/dependent shall receive priority employment consideration when competing with applicants with substantially equal qualifications who are not State employees as defined in this policy. In order to claim veterans’ preference, eligible veterans and eligible spouses/dependents must meet the minimum training and experience requirements for the position and must be capable of performing the duties assigned to the position.

Eligible veterans shall also receive military service credit as defined in this policy as it applies to training and experience in hiring decisions and as it applies to calculation of total State service in determining layoff selection.

An eligible veteran or eligible spouse/dependent who is not a current state employee shall be hired when overall qualifications are substantially equal to the non-eligible persons in the most qualified applicant pool who do not have a priority described below.

If the selection decision is between an eligible veteran or eligible spouse/dependent who is not a State employee and a substantially equal applicant with a priority described below, the applicant with the priority described below shall be selected.

• A qualified current State employee who has completed the probationary period seeking a promotion.
• A qualified State employee with layoff reemployment priority.
• An employee returning from workers’ compensation leave or military leave.
• A qualified employee separated from an exempt policy-making or exempt managerial position for reasons other than just cause.

For eligible veterans or eligible spouse/dependents who are current State employees seeking promotion, reassignment or lateral transfer, the eligible person competes with all other applicants who have substantially equal qualifications.

Eligible veterans may receive additional training and experience credit as described below.

For all military service, training and experience bearing a reasonable functional relationship to the knowledge, skills and abilities required for a position, eligible veterans shall receive training and experience credit on a year-for-year and month-for-month basis.

If a veteran applying for a University position (initial employment, subsequent employment, promotion, reassignment or lateral transfer) has fewer than four years of job-related military service beyond that required to meet the minimum qualifications, additional experience credit may be granted for non-related military service. This training and experience credit shall be calculated as follows:

• Identify the minimum qualifications required for the position.
• Determine the amount of job-related military service possessed by the eligible veteran.
• If the eligible veteran has more than four years of job-related military service above the minimum qualifications, no additional experience credit may be claimed.
• However, if the eligible veteran has less than four years of job-related military service above the minimum qualifications, the veteran may receive, on a year-for-year and month-for-month basis, additional experience credit for unrelated military service until the combined job-related and unrelated service above the minimum qualifications equals four years.

When calculating State service during a layoff determination process, an eligible veteran shall be accorded one year of State service for each year or fraction thereof of military service, up to a maximum of five years credit.

Refer to the SHRA Employee Grievance Policy for information on applicable appeals rights related to veterans status.

To claim veterans’ preference, all eligible persons shall submit a DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, to the Office of Human Resources (OHR) either during the application process or on a later date as applicable. OHR shall verify eligibility.