District of Columbia Government Hiring Preference for Veterans

District government hiring gives veterans points, but it is one of the most restricted preferences in this catalog. The five points. D.C. Code 1-607.03(a) lets a person who served on active duty for more than 180 consecutive days, not counting reserve initial training, and separated under honorable conditions "receive an additional 5 points on any register" for Career and Educational Service appointments. The regulation, 6-B DCMR 214.2, adds that the service must have been "during a time of war, inclusive of contingency operations", in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, with an honorable or general discharge, and that the veteran must have separated "no more than five (5) years prior to the request". Subsection (f) of the statute is where the wartime test comes from: nobody who entered after October 14, 1976 gets any preference "unless the person served in the armed forces of the United States during time of war". The ten points. Subsection (b) adds five more points, ten in all, for a veteran with a service-connected disability or who receives VA compensation, disability retirement or pension. Under 6-B DCMR 214.5 the five year limit still applies, except to a veteran rated 30 percent or more, which matches subsections (e) and (j) of the statute. Nothing for retirees. Subsection (g): "No person retiring from the armed forces of the United States shall receive any preference." 6-B DCMR 214.9 says the same. The Department of Human Resources' hiring preferences page instead says retirees "at or above the rank of Major or Lieutenant Commander" are ineligible unless the retirement is based on disability, which is the federal rule and implies enlisted and junior officer retirees are eligible. The statute and the regulation say no retiree is. Spouses. A spouse or domestic partner of a disabled veteran who cannot work in their occupation because of the disability can claim ten points under 6-B DCMR 214.6, and an unremarried spouse or partner of a member who died on active duty ten points under 214.7, with no time limit. The statute ties both to the federal rules in 5 U.S.C. 2108. Bad paper. Subsection (d) and 6-B DCMR 214.3 let a veteran with a discharge other than honorable or general claim the preference by showing the discharge resulted from discrimination. The decision of the personnel authority is final. The residency preference outweighs it. 6-B DCMR 213 gives any District resident ten points in exchange for a promise to stay a resident for seven years after hire, and the ranking rule lists applicants claiming residency preference first and veterans' preference second. A District resident veteran within five years of discharge can claim both. A veteran who lives in Maryland or Virginia gets five points against a resident's ten. Other personnel benefits. A District employee who retired from the military earns annual leave credit for military service only if the retirement was for a disability incurred in combat or by an instrumentality of war during a period of war, under D.C. Code 1-612.03(f).