Montana Private Employer Veteran Hiring Preference

Since 2015, section 39-29-203 has provided that a private sector employer may adopt an employment policy giving preference in hiring to a veteran. A private sector employer is any employer that is not a public employer, and the term expressly includes both for-profit and not-for-profit employers. This confers nothing on a veteran directly. Its value is defensive and it is aimed at the employer: without it, a policy of systematically preferring veterans invites an argument that the employer is discriminating on some correlated ground. The statute removes that objection as a matter of Montana law. It sits on a constitutional footing. Section 39-29-202(2) ties the part to Article II, section 35 of the Montana Constitution, which says: "The people declare that Montana servicemen, servicewomen, and veterans may be given special considerations determined by the legislature." That clause is the authority for the whole of Montana's veteran preference scheme, and the Revenue Interim Committee cites it as the authority for the tax provisions as well. The limit is in the same subsection. The part may not be interpreted to violate any other state or local equal employment opportunity law. A veteran preference cannot be used as cover for a policy that has a different discriminatory effect, and nothing in the section touches federal equal employment law. There is no registration, no certification and no state list of participating employers. An employer either has adopted a policy or has not. For a veteran the practical use of this entry is to be able to say to an employer that Montana law expressly permits the policy, which is the objection most likely to be raised in the room.