Delaware State Employment Veterans Preference

Delaware's preference is the classic points model, confined to the state merit system and to first appointment. What the statute requires. Title 29, section 5935 tells the Merit Rules to give preference to veterans of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard "who served as an active member of the armed forces of the United States and were terminated honorably", and to "active and honorably discharged members with at least 20 years of service in either the Delaware National Guard or a reserve unit located within Delaware". Preference is only for original entrance, never for promotion or retention in a reduction in force. It is only points added to a passing score: no more than 10 for a disabled veteran and no more than 5 for anyone else. The rules must define disabled veteran. The spouses. Paragraph (b)(6) gives five points to the spouse of a qualifying veteran or member who has died, while unremarried; of a member on active duty listed for more than 90 days as missing in action, captured by a hostile force or forcibly detained by a foreign government; or of a qualifying veteran or member with a service-connected disability. What the rules actually do. Merit Rule 8.3 says "Veterans and disabled veterans, as defined or their unremarried widows, shall receive five (5) additional and ten (10) additional points respectively upon successful completion of the screening and ranking process for initial appointment". Rule chapter 19 then defines "Veteran" by honorable separation after service from April 6, 1917 to July 2, 1921, from December 7, 1941 to July 1, 1955, for more than 180 consecutive days after January 31, 1955 not counting initial active duty for training, or in a campaign for which a badge was authorized. A disabled veteran is one who has established the present existence of a service-connected disability or receives compensation, disability retirement or pension for one. Two things follow. The rules have wartime and length tests that the statute does not, so a veteran with less than 180 days and no campaign badge fails the rule while meeting the statute. And the rule names only "unremarried widows", not the other spouses the statute lists. What the state jobs site says. The Department of Human Resources page describes the preference as open to veterans "honorably discharged or discharged under other than dishonorable conditions", to 20-year Delaware Guard and reserve members, and to all the spouses in the statute. It asks for a DD-214, a VA letter for disability, Form 1300 for a detained member's spouse, NGB-22 for Guard members and DD-256 for reservists who never served on active duty. What to do. Submit your preference documents with the application. If the preference is refused because your service falls outside a rule 19 period, point to section 5935, which contains no period, and to the Department's own description. A disabled veteran does not need a particular percentage under any of the three. Seniority credit. Paragraph (b)(5) credits a classified employee who leaves state service in good standing for military service with that time, up to three years, for seniority. Section 5953 separately forbids discrimination in the classified service on the basis of military status and says the preference is not discrimination. The limits. Delaware has no preference for promotions, no absolute preference and, unlike some states in this catalog, no statutory preference for county or municipal jobs.