Los Angeles County Civil Service Veteran's Credit

Section 36½ of the Los Angeles County Charter, last amended in 1955, requires the Civil Service Commission to add a credit of ten percent of the total credits of an open competitive examination to the passing score of a person who served in the armed forces "in time of war, armed insurrection or international police action" and was honorably discharged or whose service was honorable. Civil Service Rule 7.15, amended in 2026, carries it out. The credit counts toward placement on the eligible list (Rule 10.02). It does not apply to promotional examinations. Which service counts. The Department of Human Resources guideline, reviewed in 2013, lists the qualifying service: a declared war; April 28, 1952 to July 1, 1955; more than 180 consecutive days other than for training any part of which fell between January 31, 1955 and October 15, 1976; August 2, 1990 to January 2, 1992 with 24 months of continuous service or the full period called up; more than 180 consecutive days any part of which fell between September 11, 2001 and the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom; or a campaign or expedition for which a campaign medal or the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was awarded. The guideline's medal table marks the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Afghanistan and Iraq campaign medals and decorations for valor as qualifying, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and National Defense Service Medal as not. A veteran whose service began after Operation Iraqi Freedom ended and who holds no campaign or expeditionary medal therefore gets no credit. There is no higher tier for a service-connected disability, unlike State employment. Spouses. Rule 7.15 says the credit goes to "veterans and spouses of veterans". The Charter, which controls, reaches only the spouse of a veteran who was wounded or disabled in that service and "thereby permanently prevented from engaging in any remunerative occupation", and the widow of one who died or was killed in service; its 1955 text says "wife" and "widow", and the department's guideline reads both as spouse and widower too. Proof. Send a DD-214 or other official service document with the application. Without it the 10 points are withheld until it arrives. Returning to county service. Under Rule 10.09 a veteran returning to county service with rights under Military and Veterans Code section 395.1 may take an examination for any position with a list in effect and be added to that list as if the veteran had taken the original examination.