Montana Veterans’ Employment Preference

Montana Code Annotated Title 39, chapter 29, part 1 gives a preference in hiring by any public employer: the state and its agencies, the university system, a school district or community college, and a county, city or town. Where the employer uses a scored procedure, five percentage points of the total possible points are added for a veteran and ten for a disabled veteran or an eligible relative. A disabled veteran who gets the ten does not also get the five. Where the employer uses something other than a scored procedure, preference goes to a disabled veteran, a person with a disability, a veteran, an eligible relative and an eligible spouse, in that order, over any nonpreferred applicant with substantially equal qualifications. The condition that decides most disputes is procedural. Section 39-29-103(2) requires the applicant to claim the preference in writing before the time for filing applications has passed, and says that failure to make a timely claim "is a complete defense" to any later action. A veteran who mentions their service in an interview, or who lists it on a resume but never claims the preference, has no enforceable preference at all. The employer must give notice of the preference by posting or on the application form, so the claim mechanism should be visible, but the burden of claiming it sits with the applicant. Who is a veteran here is wider than in the rest of Montana law. Section 39-29-101(10) defines "under honorable conditions" to include both honorable and general discharges, excluding only dishonorable discharges and administrative discharges characterised as other than honorable. The armed forces here include the Space Force and the merchant marine for service the Department of Defense recognises as active military service. A veteran is someone separated under honorable conditions after more than 180 consecutive days of active federal duty other than for training; or a reserve member called to active duty under the named mobilisation authorities during a war or a campaign with a badge; or a current or former Montana Army or Air National Guard member with at least six years of service in the armed forces, the last three in the Montana Guard. The definition of "disabled veteran" in 39-29-101(2) is the sleeper. It reaches a person "whether or not the person is a veteran" who was separated under honorable conditions and has established a present service-connected disability or receives compensation, disability retirement or a pension. A service member medically separated after ninety days, who cannot meet the 180-day veteran test, is still a disabled veteran for ten points. A Purple Heart recipient is a disabled veteran under subsection (2)(b) with no disability finding at all. Eligible relatives are the unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran or disabled veteran; the spouse of a disabled veteran who is unable to qualify for appointment; and, in two defined situations, the mother of a veteran who died under honorable conditions or of a service-connected permanently and totally disabled veteran. Section 39-29-111 gives preference in retention during a reduction in force, and inside it there is a rating floor: a disabled veteran with a service-connected disability of 30 percent or more is retained over other veterans, disabled veterans and eligible relatives with similar duties, qualifications and length of service. Retention preference does not apply to a position covered by a collective bargaining agreement, and it is lost by an unacceptable performance rating. What is not covered. "Position" excludes elected office, appointments made by an elected official to a board or to a public office, department head appointments, independent contractors and their employees, and student interns. The preference also runs to an initial hiring, which means applications solicited from outside the current workforce; an internal promotion or a recall from a reduction-in-force pool is not an initial hiring. United States citizenship and meeting the minimum qualifications are required. Enforcement has a clock. Within 30 days of the notice of the hiring decision, request a written explanation; the employer has 15 days to give one. Within 90 days of the notice, file a petition in the district court of the county where the application was received. The court sets a show cause hearing in 5 to 10 days, and the employer carries the burden of proving it applied the preference and made a reasonable hiring decision. If the employer fails, the court orders compliance and, on proper proof, backpay, reasonable attorney fees and costs. Missing the 90 days bars the petition. An employer that fails to give the written explanation within 15 days loses on that point alone. A guaranteed job interview is available only where the public employer has adopted one by rule or ordinance, and the statute says in terms that the interview guarantee is not part of the preference claim that can be enforced in court.