Although managers at the Defense Department will get
extensive new authorities over handling their personnel
under the department’s recently approved “national security
personnel system,” they will have to continue to take
veterans preference into account in their decisions.
The DoD measure waives government-wide rules relating to:
the methods of establishing qualification requirements for,
recruitment for, and appointments to positions; the methods
of assigning, reassigning, detailing, transferring, or
promoting employees; and the methods of reducing overall
agency staff and grade levels. The only restrictions are
that DoD “shall comply” with existing veterans preference
requirements, which give veterans an advantage both in
hiring and in reductions-in-force.
For RIFs, in addition to veterans preference, “tenure of
employment, length of service, and such other factors as
the Secretary considers necessary and appropriate shall be
considered.”
