The board said preference applies only to those separated specifically under “honorable” conditions. Image: SvetaZi/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe MSPB has stressed the importance of the type of military discharge in determining veterans’ preference rights in federal employment.
In case No. 2023 MSPB 19, a board hearing officer had found that a job applicant did not meet the veterans’ preference eligibility requirements under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act because she had been separated from the military under “uncharacterized” conditions.
On appeal to the board, she argued that she was entitled to preference because she is receiving military disability benefits, but the MSPB said that even for disabled veterans, preference applies only to those separated under “honorable” conditions. The military “treats honorable and under honorable condition characterizations of service or descriptions of separation as distinct from “uncharacterized” descriptions,” it said.
“Although an “uncharacterized” discharge is not necessarily one that occurred under other than honorable conditions, and we make no such characterization of the appellant’s service here, it is clear that a designation of “uncharacterized” does not indicate that the discharge at issue was under honorable conditions for the purpose of veterans’ preference statutes and regulations,” it said.
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