Veterans are specially privileged individuals in federal employment, but whether they can be viewed as federal employees or federal government members remains the question. This category needs to be examined in order to know about their careers, benefits, and legal status in the federal system.
Veterans’ preference in federal employment
The Veterans’ Preference Act of 1944, as it has been amended, provides preference in federal employment to veterans. The preference applies to competitive and excepted service in the federal sector. Getting preference does not necessarily entitle a veteran to become a federal employee but increases the likelihood of appointment or retention in federal employment.
Types of federal employment
- Competitive service: Veterans are awarded bonus points on employment examinations and are placed at the top of hiring lists, with the only exception being professional positions.
- Excepted service: Veterans can be appointed noncompetitively through channels such as special authorities such as the Veterans Recruitment Appointment (VRA).
Are veterans federal employees?
Federal employees who happen to be veterans are clearly federal employees. Federal employees are not necessarily veterans. Those in special hiring authorities like VRA become federal employees at the time of appointment, but are not required to have equal status with the career civil service employees unless or until converted to career or career-conditional appointments.
Status of veterans in federal agencies
Government employees who are veterans employed within agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) fall into the General Schedule (GS) or Federal Wage System (FWS) and are regulated under federal employment policy. Government employees like them are eligible to receive benefits and protections government employees enjoy like job security, medical insurance, and retirement benefit.
Classification and position management
Federal and veterans’ jobs are under the jurisdiction of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). All jobs have to be classified in accordance with OPM standards in order to facilitate standardization of the federal agencies. Through this, an occupational series, title, grade, and pay system for a specific job should be determined.
Consistency reviews
For maintaining consistency and equity, the federal agencies such as the VA regularly review their position classifications to bring them in line with OPM standards. These reviews will affect future position management decisions and keep veterans and other workers classified and paid properly.
Federal government employees who are veterans are actually federal employees with federal job protections and benefits. Not all veterans, however, are federal employees, and their situations vary according to their own individual employment status within the federal system. Being aware of these differences will allow one to cut through the confusing terrain of federal employment opportunities for veterans.
Read more: Who are Tatyana McFadden and Jessica Long, the American veterans who will participate in the 2024 Paralympics Games?
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