Also at the hearing, a Labor Department official said that only about 5 percent of complaints brought there by veterans that agencies had improperly failed to apply veterans’ preference in hiring or during a reduction-in-force are ultimately decided in favor of the veteran.
Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service is responsible for investigating those claims, the large majority of which involve hiring actions, not RIFs.
Of the 590 cases closed in FY 2015, 32 were found to have merit, 371 were found to have no merit and the rest were closed for lack of timeliness or similar reasons, withdrawn by the claimant, or for other administrative reasons.
He added that where there is evidence of a violation, information is forwarded to the OSC as a potential prohibited personnel practice which could subject the responsible official to disciplinary action by that agency before the MSPB.
