North Carolina Veterans Preference in State Employment

North Carolina gives eligible people a preference in State employment, now under G.S. 126A-5-14 of the North Carolina Human Resources Act, which Session Law 2026-40 enacted from October 1, 2026 in place of Article 13 of Chapter 126 (repealed the same day). The Office of State Human Resources' policy of the same date carries it out. Who is eligible. "a. A veteran. b. The spouse of a disabled veteran. c. The surviving spouse or dependent of a deceased veteran. d. An eligible member of the National Guard. e. The spouse of a service member who is serving in the Armed Forces of the United States on active duty." A veteran is anyone who "served in the Armed Forces of the United States on active duty, for reasons other than training, and has been discharged under other than dishonorable conditions". There is no longer any wartime or peacetime-disability test for positions under the Act, and a general or other-than-honorable discharge qualifies. The National Guard preference covers a North Carolina resident in good standing in the North Carolina Army or Air Guard, a former member discharged under honorable conditions after six years of creditable service, and the surviving spouse and dependants of a member. What it gives. The preference applies in initial employment, later hiring, promotions, reassignments, horizontal transfers and reductions in force. Military training and experience related to the job counts year for year and month for month toward the minimum qualifications; where the agency uses a numerically scored examination, the eligible person gets 10 points (spouses and dependants included); where it does not, a veteran or Guard member with less than four years of related military experience beyond the minimum gets up to four years of credit for unrelated service. A person who believes the preference was denied may appeal under G.S. 126A-8-4 and 126A-8-5. Exempt positions. Jobs outside the Act stay under G.S. 128-15, which keeps the older wartime test: a veteran who served during a period of war or a campaign for which a badge or medal is authorized, a veteran disabled in peacetime service, and their spouses and survivors. How to claim. Submit the DD-214 (for Guard members the NGB 23A, or for former members the DD 256 or NGB 22) during the application; the agency must review it before making an offer. State employees who serve. Under OSHR's military leave policy (effective December 19, 2025) a reservist or Guard member gets up to 120 hours of paid military leave for training each federal fiscal year; called to active duty, up to 30 calendar days of pay and then differential pay where military base pay is less than State salary. A veteran in local government should also look at the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System's military service credit.