FAQs

Your military pay, grade, and rank alone cannot determine your eligibility for a specific civilian salary, grade level, or pay range.  On your job application, it is important that you completely and accurately describe the duties you performed during your military service, particularly those military duties that relate directly to the position you are applying for.  The agency will then evaluate your qualifications to determine whether you are eligible for the occupation and grade levels advertised on the vacancy announcement. Please be sure to submit all requested documents in a timely manner and follow the application procedures described in the vacancy announcement.

No. Federal regulations only allows for prior Federal service in the same agency and in the same line of work.

Yes. The President declared the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom August 31, 2010.

Congress determines eligibility for veterans’ preference through law in 5 USC 2108. However, the Federal agency to which a veteran applies for employment will adjudicate claims for veterans’ preference.  The agency will request a copy of your DD-214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, or other acceptable documentation in order to adjudicate claims for veterans' preference.

You may file a complaint with the Department of Labor's Veterans Employment and Training Service.  This is the agency designated by law, to investigate violations of veterans’ preference.  Information on how to file a complaint may be found at: http://www.dol.gov/elaws/vetspref.htm

No. There is no limit to the number of times you can apply for positions when agencies are accepting applications as a 30% or more disabled veteran.

Veterans' preference does not apply to internal agency actions such as promotions, transfers, reassignments and reinstatements.

A 10-point preference eligible may file an application under certain circumstances, after the closing date If you want to apply after the closing date of the vacancy announcement, you should contact the agency that announced the position for further information.

A felony conviction does not automatically make one unsuitable for Federal employment.  When making a suitability determination, an agency will evaluate the individual’s character traits and decide whether their employment or continued employment would or would not protect the integrity or promote the efficiency of the service.   Suitability determinations are made on a case by case basis for covered positions that are subject to investigation.  Covered positions are those in the competitive Federal service, those in the excepted service that noncompetitively convert to the competitive service, or career appointments to positions in the Senior Executive Service.   

0-point preference is a category for veterans released or discharged from active duty from the armed forces, after August 29, 2008, by reason of a “sole survivorship discharge.”  No points are added to the passing score or rating of a veteran who is the only surviving child in a family in which the father or mother or one or more siblings:

1. Served in the armed forces, and
2. Was killed, died as a result of wounds, accident, or disease, is in a captured or missing in action status, or is permanently 100 percent disabled or hospitalized on a continuing basis (and is not employed gainfully because of the disability or hospitalization), where
3. The death, status, or disability did not result from the intentional misconduct or willful neglect of the parent or sibling and was not incurred during a period of unauthorized absence.

The veteran must have been discharged under an honorable or general discharge.

Agencies develop their own procedures for interview practices. The decision to interview may depend on a variety of factors, including your ranking against other candidates, the number of positions being filled, and the number of people who applied.

Yes – You can request a “certification”, that is a written document from the armed forces that certifies the service member is expected to be discharged or released from active duty service in the armed forces under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is signed.

No. You may not receive veterans’ preference in Federal employment as the spouse of a veteran if the veteran is living and qualified for Federal employment.

If you believe that you have been the victim of unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or disability, you must contact an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) counselor within 45 calendar days of the alleged discriminatory action, or, in the case of a personnel action, within 45 calendar days of the effective date of the action, before you can file a formal complaint of discrimination with the agency. See, e.g. 29 CFR 1614.  If you believe that you have been the victim of unlawful discrimination on the basis of age, you must either contact an EEO counselor as noted above or give notice of intent to sue to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory action. For further information, check the EEOC's website at https://www.eeoc.gov/.  If you are alleging discrimination based on marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other factor that is not related to job performance, you may file a written complaint with the United States Office of Special Counsel. For further information check the OSC’s website at https://osc.gov/.  In the alternative, you may pursue a discrimination complaint by filing a grievance through the agency's administrative or negotiated grievance procedures, if such procedures apply and are available.