U.S. Office of Personnel Management 

Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998

Questions and Answers

Q. 1. When are the provisions of the new law effective? 

A. They are effective as of October 31, 1998, the date the bill was signed by the President.

A. Agencies must include the following statement on all merit promotion announcements open to applicants outside their own agencies: 
 
"Veterans who are preference eligibles or who have been separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after 3 years or more of continuous active service may apply."

A. No. Agencies should ensure that all vacancy announcements issued after the date the bill was signed into law (October 31, 1998) contain the required statement.

A. OPM has created a Schedule B appointing authority under 5 CFR 213.3202(n) for appointing veterans who are eligible under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998. This authority, published in the Federal register on December 3, 1998, is available for your immediate use.

They may be considered as a separate source of eligibles (as are most VRA eligibles) or they may be rated and ranked with the agency's merit promotion eligibles. This decision is the agency's choice. However, while these veterans must be allowed to apply, they do not receive any priority over other candidates.

A. Veterans' preference does not apply to merit promotion actions. However, if an agency is considering these candidates as a separate source of eligibles and one or more veteran is a preference eligible, then the agency must apply preference within this group in the same way that it is now required to apply preference within a group of VRA eligibles who apply under a merit promotion announcement.

A. Yes. A veteran appointed under this law may be reassigned, promoted or demoted to another position within the agency, as appropriate, but would remain employed under this excepted appointment. The veteran, however, is always eligible to apply for competitive service positions under an open competitive process.

A.  Yes. The veteran who was selected under merit promotion procedures to a position with promotion potential may be promoted under this excepted authority.

A.  If the agency is seeking candidates from outside the agency through a merit promotion announcement, or through an open competitive announcement, a veteran appointed under this new law may apply. However, a veteran with a Schedule B appointment may not apply for merit promotion vacancies opened only to internal agency candidates.

A. Yes. A veteran appointed under this new law may apply for other vacancies in other agencies when the agency is seeking candidates from outside the agency through a merit promotion announcement, or through an open competitive announcement.

A.  No. To achieve status, a veteran would still need to be appointed under an open competitive process or be eligible under a special authority for noncompetitive conversion to the competitive service.

A. Veterans who are eligible for appointments under this new law could not apply for agency vacancies limited to CTAP candidates because the agency is not seeking candidates from outside its own workforce.

A. Yes. Veterans may apply for vacancies opened to ICTAP eligibles.

A. The VRA provides for noncompetitive conversion to the competitive service after 2 years of acceptable performance. This new law does not provide for noncompetitive conversion.

A. If a veteran is eligible for appointment under some other authority (such as reinstatement or the VRA), an agency may not use the new excepted appointing authority.

A. The Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) will administer this provision in much the same way that it now administers the appeal rights of veterans under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

A. The two provisions are separate and distinct, although there is obviously some overlap. For example, a veteran who believes that an agency "knowingly took" an action (or failed to take an action) that violated his or her veterans' preference rights, would have the option of filing a complaint with the Department of Labor or going directly to the Office of the Special Counsel which adjudicates violations of Prohibited Personnel Practices.

A. Yes. Although most of the provisions of the new law do not affect statutory provisions administered by OPM, we are issuing a new regulation -- 5 CFR 335.106 -- to reflect the additional requirement for merit promotion vacancies and we are issuing issue a new Schedule B appointing authority as mentioned previously.

A. No. Veterans outside the commuting area are subject to the same criteria that apply to other candidates.

A. No. The new law made no change at all in existing provisions of law. Thus, the provison that retired military personnel cannot be reappointed to a position in DOD within 180 days of retirement (5 U.S.C. 3326), continues to apply.

A. Yes. Agencies may waive any written test for these candidates in the same way they are now authorized to waive a written test for VRA candidates. (See OPM's Qualifications Standards Operating Manual, Section IIA.)

A. Yes. Anyone who qualifies as a preference eligible under 5 U.S.C. 2108 -- including those entitled to so-called derivative preference (i.e., mothers, widows, and spouses) if otherwise eligible, may apply under the new law and would also be covered by the new redress procedures.

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