Ohio Attacks Veterans Preference

A newly pro­posed bill in Ohio (House Bill 153) changes the old model for Vet­er­ans Pref­er­ence when ex-military can­di­dates apply for state jobs. The new pro­vi­sion no longer allows vet­er­ans the same hir­ing ben­e­fit from ser­vice as before. Vet­er­ans will still get addi­tional points added to their “score” of around 20 per­cent. These scores are com­piled after an assess­ment of the back­ground, qual­i­fi­ca­tions and expe­ri­ence of the appli­cant. With the new bill, Ohio agen­cies are able to select from the top 25 per­cent of appli­cants when more than 10 peo­ple apply and can now view all the scor­ing side by side, before and after the Pref­er­ence Points. This will erode the ben­e­fit of the pref­er­ence, in cer­tain cases.

Explained. For exam­ple, Bill Vet­eran and Joe Col­lege apply for the same job and have the best cre­den­tials. Bill scores 100 and Joe scores 95. Add the 20 per­cent Pref­er­ence. Now Bill scores 120. But Joe may still get the job because his score is within 25 per­cent of the top score.

Who cares? While this change may sound insignif­i­cant to some, it places a lim­ited ben­e­fit to mil­i­tary ser­vice, some­thing gov­ern­ment employ­ers used to value. In addi­tion, a vet­eran could score higher with­out the pref­er­ence and still not get the job because of the top 25 per­cent hir­ing cut­off. As a result, it could encour­age crony­ism, some­thing our gov­ern­ment needs lot less of these days. So, for the gov­ern­ment hir­ing agents who have a par­tic­u­lar dis­dain for vet­er­ans, this could become a prob­lem. As a result, there may no longer be a ben­e­fit of ser­vice in this arena. In typ­i­cal 1984 Dou­ble Speak, a vet­eran still gets the “Vet­er­ans Pref­er­ence” with­out the actual pref­er­ence. Yet another clas­sic chip away at the vet­er­ans ben­e­fits we earned. More wars, but less ben­e­fits for those who fight them

Another nail in the cof­fin. State and Fed­eral jobs used to be a reli­able alter­na­tive to pri­vate sec­tor employ­ment for vet­er­ans choos­ing to align their careers with their mil­i­tary ser­vice. After ser­vice, a gov­ern­ment job served as a straight­for­ward way to con­tinue a career in ser­vice of coun­try with­out the incon­sis­ten­cies of mil­i­tary life. With the cur­rent down­ward trend in hir­ing of vet­er­ans, now more than ever, these gov­ern­ment jobs serve as a reli­able source of employ­ment. Pri­vate sec­tor employ­ers are reluc­tant to fill job open­ings with vet­er­ans return­ing from Iraq and Afghanistan, caus­ing many vet­er­ans to omit mil­i­tary ser­vice from their resumes. But high vet­eran unem­ploy­ment and hir­ing dis­crim­i­na­tion be-damned. Our coun­try is quickly devel­op­ing a Vietnam-esq amne­sia when it comes to her vet­er­ans.

Take Action. For Ohio vet­er­ans, don’t take this one in the rump. Con­tact your Ohio state rep­re­sen­ta­tive to let them know we will not be for­got­ten again.

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2 Comments

  1. Congressman Goodwin please don’t forget us military veterans when considering bills that affect us. Keep up the good Work!

    Regards,

    Lynn Elston

  2. Here we go, attacking those who sacraficed so much for their country. Let’s not allow these lawmakers who never served their country dimish the scarafice so many have made so they can enjoy their freedom.

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