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Human Resources
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TRANSMITTAL
United
States Washington, D.C. 20415-000 In Reply Refer To: March 27, 2002 Your Reference: MEMORANDUM
FOR DIRECTORS OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Attached is a recent memorandum from Director Kay Coles James to Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies about employment opportunity for veterans. I want to take this opportunity to call your attention to several specific matters concerning veterans’ employment. First, I am pleased to report 100
percent of agencies have submitted this year’s Disabled Veterans
Affirmative Action Program (DVAAP) reports.
Congratulations! Congress requires these reports as a way of monitoring what
Executive agencies are doing to further employment and promotion
opportunities for disabled veterans.
We very much appreciate your cooperation in getting these
reports in on time. I am also pleased to report that the Veterans' Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA) of 1998, as amended, has been a great success in furthering employment opportunities for veterans. In Fiscal Year 1999 (the first year of operation) there were 729 VEOA appointments. The following year, there were 4,433 appointments, and in FY 2001, the number doubled to 8,516. Significantly, veterans are being hired
under the VEOA authority in virtually every agency, large and small,
for most occupations, and for every grade level. Congress enacted the VEOA in response
to concerns expressed by individuals as well as veterans' service
organizations that veterans were having difficulty competing for
Federal jobs because agencies were increasingly recruiting from
within, rather than through open competitive examination.
This Act, among other things, requires an agency to allow
eligible veterans and preference eligibles to apply when it is
recruiting outside the agency under Merit Promotion procedures.
Initially, veterans appointed under this authority were given
Schedule B appointments; that changed a year later, in November
1999, when Congress amended the VEOA to allow veterans who were
selected under Merit Promotion competition to receive career
conditional appointments. Of course, as with the employment of
veterans and noted in the Director’s memorandum, some agencies are
doing considerably better than others at hiring VEOA candidates.
We find, for example, that approximately 90% of the
appointments were in the military departments and the Department of
Veterans Affairs. This
may mean that other agencies -- particularly those doing significant
recruiting -- are missing an opportunity to use this important
flexibility to appoint veterans.
These are very high quality candidates who have a special
dedication and commitment to continue serving the Nation.
We urge you to pay special attention to the VEOA when you are
considering recruiting options.
As evidenced by the DVAAP reports, a
special focus of attention since the 1978 enactment of the Civil
Service Reform Act has been making employment opportunities
available for veterans with a 30% or more disability rating.
Congress created a special noncompetitive appointing
authority for these individuals (5 U.S.C. 3112).
An agency can give an eligible veteran a temporary
appointment lasting 60 days or more, and convert the veteran at
any time to a career conditional appointment.
Unfortunately, we find that agencies are making only limited
use of this authority. Although
approximately 4,000 30% or more disabled veterans were appointed in
FY 2001, fewer than 700 were appointed under this authority.
Please consider using this authority as a way to appoint
severely disabled veterans. Also available for your use in
appointing veterans non-competitively is the venerable Veterans’
Readjustment Appointment (VRA) -- one of the very first special
appointing authorities. You
may give eligible veterans excepted appointments up to grade GS-11
or equivalent. After a
veteran successfully completes a 2-year trial period, you must
convert the individual to a career conditional appointment.
VRA eligibility lasts for 10 years from the date of the
veteran’s last separation from active duty. In
FY 2001, agencies made more than 7,000 appointments under the VRA. Director James is placing special
importance on ensuring that veterans get the preferences to which
they are entitled. She
has instructed our Office of Merit Systems Oversight to pay special
attention to these issues when evaluating agency programs.
Within the Employment Service, we are giving veterans’
issues special emphasis by meeting regularly with veterans’
organizations on matters of mutual importance, working with the
Departments of Labor and Veterans Affairs to facilitate the
employment of veterans, and sharing program information with the
Human Resources community and others. Detailed, specific information on the above appointing authorities is available on our web site (www.opm.gov) under "veterans." There is also a discussion of the various appointing authorities for veterans in the VetGuide also available on our web site. If we can provide any additional information or answer any questions about the use of these authorities, please call Mr. Raleigh Neville on (202) 606-0960, e-mail address: rmnevill@opm.gov. Hiring veterans is good for the Government and good for the Nation! |