Veterans Preference
In appreciation for their service to their country, and in recognition of the time and advantage lost toward the pursuit of a civilian career, veterans shall be granted preference in University employment.
The preference and service calculations defined below shall apply to eligible veterans and eligible spouse/dependent in initial employment, subsequent employment, promotions, reassignments, lateral transfers and layoffs.
This policy applies to eligible veterans and eligible spouses/dependents applying for: employment, subsequent employment, promotions, reassignments, and lateral transfers.
Departments are responsible for adhering to this policy when making hiring and layoff decisions involving eligible veterans and eligible spouses/dependents.
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.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been recognized as a “Top Veteran-Friendly School” by U.S. Veterans Magazine.
