Georgia Veterans Points on State and Local Civil Service Examinations

Code section 45-2-21 entitles a veteran to "five points added to his passing score on any competitive civil service examination for employment with the state government or any political subdivision thereof". Counties, cities, consolidated governments and school systems are political subdivisions, so the points reach a county merit system's exams as well as the State's. Who gets five points. A veteran who served more than 180 days on active duty, not counting initial active duty for training under the reserve or National Guard programmes, with some part of the service during a period of armed conflict, and who was honorably discharged. Section 45-2-20 defines armed conflict as armed military intervention beyond the United States or any confrontation with foreign nationals in which actual hostilities break out. A Guard or reserve member who served on active duty for any length of time during Operation Desert Shield or Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf area of imminent danger also qualifies. A veteran already preferred under the State merit system provision of the Constitution, Article IV, Section III, Paragraph II, does not get these points on top. Ten points. Section 45-2-22 gives ten points instead of five to a veteran who meets section 45-2-21 and has a service-connected disability of at least 10%, as rated and certified by VA. The ten points replace, rather than add to, any similar preference. Limits. The points are added to a passing score, so a failing score stays failing, and they apply only to a competitive civil service examination. Many county jobs are filled by application review and interview without a scored exam, and then the statute gives nothing; a county may still have its own policy, which the county entries in this catalog describe. For State jobs, see the State Personnel Board entry. The text is FindLaw's copy of the Code, current to March 28, 2024, because the State's official free code on LexisNexis would not open on October 24, 2026; every act of 2024, 2025 and 2026 whose first reader names Title 45 was read, and none amends sections 45-2-20 to 45-2-22.