Kansas Veterans Preference in Public Employment

Section 73-201 says that veterans shall be preferred for initial employment and first promotion in the state government of Kansas, and in the counties and cities of this state, if competent to perform such services. Three things about that sentence do more work than any percentage table. It binds local government. Counties and cities are named alongside the state, so a veteran applying to a city public works department or a county sheriff's office holds the same preference as one applying to a state agency. "Competent" is defined rather than left to the employer. It means a good faith determination that the person is likely to successfully meet the performance standards of the position, based on what a reasonable person knowledgeable in the operation of the position would conclude from all information available. The basis must include experience, training, education, licensure, certification or other factors the decision-making authority determines appropriate, and the authority must document those factors before the selection process begins. An employer who decides after seeing the applicants what the job requires has not complied. And the preference is enforceable. Subsection (g) provides that any veteran who alleges a state agency, city or county has not provided the preference may, after exhausting any available administrative remedy, bring an action in the district court. Most preference statutes in this catalog give a veteran a rule and no way to enforce it. The notice duty is unusual and specific. Within thirty days of filling a position, eligible veterans who applied and were not hired must be notified by certified mail or personal service that they are not being hired, and the notice must advise the veteran of any administrative appeal available. So are the posting duties. All notices of job openings and all applications for employment by the state or any Kansas city or county must state that the job is subject to a veteran's preference, how the preference works and how to take advantage of it, and must post the qualifications for the position, any preferred qualifications, the performance standards, and the process that will be used for selection. Every state employment centre and city or county human resources department must openly display documents indicating that veterans are eligible for the preference. "Veteran" in 73-201(a)(1) is wider than the word usually is. It covers a person who served in the active military, naval, air or space service, including the groups and individuals listed under 38 C.F.R. 3.7, discharged or released under an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions. It separately covers any Purple Heart recipient. It covers the spouse of a service-connected disabled veteran with a permanent and total combined evaluation of 100 percent, the surviving spouse of a veteran who died in the line of duty, and the spouse of a prisoner of war as defined by 75-4364. One exclusion catches career officers. The preference does not apply to a person who retired from active military service at pay grade O-4 or above, unless that person retired due to wounds received in combat or is a disabled veteran with a service-connected evaluation of 10 percent or more. A retired major with no rating has no preference; the same officer with a 10 percent rating does. "Disabled veteran" in subsection (a)(3) carries no percentage floor at all. It asks only for a service-connected evaluation, so any compensable rating satisfies it. Two limits worth stating. The preference reaches initial employment and first promotion, not every promotion thereafter. And it does not apply to conscientious objectors, nor does it override statutes, county resolutions or city ordinances about retirement or termination on the basis of age. Documentation is a DD Form 214, DD Form 1300, NGB Form 22 or other official discharge document recognised by the Department of Veterans Affairs, provided to the hiring authority. The NGB Form 22 route matters for a Guard member who holds no DD214.