House panel questions complexity of veterans preference laws

Members of a House subcommittee on Thursday probed whether the complexity of laws giving veterans preference in federal employment is hindering compliance.

"There are so many regulations and different parts of the mosaic that make [the law] very complex," said Meg Bartley, a senior staff attorney for the National Veterans Legal Services Program, in testimony before the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. She said simplifying the law could help hiring managers understand and meet the requirements.

But Anita Hanson, outreach group manager at the Office of Personnel Management, said managers already are adequately educated on veterans preference regulations. "I'm not sure that simplifying the law would make a difference if someone is ignorant of the law," Hanson said, adding that the vast majority of federal agencies thoroughly follow veterans preference requirements.

Meanwhile, Bartley noted that new preference programs, such as those for hiring interns, are allowing agencies to choose a separate preference-eligible candidate other than a veteran.

"Veterans are completely confused to find that they were at the very top of a certificate but someone from a completely different certificate was appointed to the job," Bartley said.

Mary Jean Burke, first executive vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees' National Veterans Affairs Council, urged Congress to reject proposals that would allow agencies to use direct-hire authority for targeted groups, such as federal annuitants and presidential interns. "Veterans' employment will be severely impacted by allowing selecting officials to completely exclude preference-eligibles from the applicant pool," she said.

Burke added that Congress must update veterans preference laws to ensure that they extend to new federal personnel systems, such as those at the Defense and Homeland Security departments.

Defense's personnel regulations reduce the number of hiring and promotion opportunities for veterans and senior employees and allow managers to terminate qualified veterans even if they are strong performers, Burke said. She called on committee members to repeal the broad authorities given to Defense under the new personnel rules.

But Patricia Bradshaw, deputy undersecretary of Defense for civilian personnel policy, testified that Defense is the largest federal employer of veterans, with more than 227,000 with preference working for the department. She said Defense is engaged in a targeted recruitment program and hosts career fairs across the country, giving veterans an opportunity to meet with federal, state and local government officials as well as nonprofit organizations.

Subcommittee members acknowledged the Defense Department's progress, questioning why other federal agencies have not made headway in hiring veterans. But Hanson argued that most federal agencies are committed to hiring veterans, especially because more than 60 percent of the federal workforce will be eligible to retire in the next decade. OPM's November 2006 report to Congress indicated that one out of every four federal workers is a veteran, she said.

Rep. John Boozman, R-Ariz., ranking member of the subcommittee, said the current number is not high enough. "If I am disappointed, it is that agencies do not make better use of the special hiring authorities to hire even more veterans," he said.

Burke recommended the adoption of a tracking system, modeled after one used by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that would include the number of veterans applying for each vacant federal position and would note whether the veteran applied for and was turned down previously for other positions.

Lawmakers pledged to look further into whether veterans preference regulations need to be simplified. They also said they would examine whether OPM needs additional resources to ensure the laws are followed.

"I cannot understand why some in the federal government do not see the value in hiring veterans," Boozman said. "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 human resources staff."