Questions About Veterans Preference

(Excerpt from an article by then-Executive Vice President Cliff Guffey that appeared in the November/December 2002 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

The following are APWU responses to frequently asked questions about Veterans' Preference:

Q: Can a preference eligible employee be excessed from a section or installation to an assignment at the same wage level?

A: Yes.

Q: Can a preference eligible employee be excessed from a section or installation to a lower-level assignment?

A: No.

Q: Can the preference eligible employee be skipped?

A: No. Skipping the veteran would violate Article 12 and the craft seniority articles, and could not be done unless in accordance with an agreement made prior to November 2001. The excessing would have to stop.

Q: After excessing or a reduction of employees is announced, what happens if a preference eligible employee volunteers to be reduced?

A: Unless the preference eligible employee first was provided with an opportunity for a specific same-level job, the voluntary action would violate the RIF rules.

Q: Can a preference eligible employee be excessed to unassigned status?

A: Yes, but only within the same installation.

Q: As an unassigned worker, can the preference eligible employee perform lower-level work?

A: On occasion, yes. On a daily basis (temporarily), yes. There has been a Merit System Protection Board decision that permits putting an employee in a lower-level assignment on a temporary basis. We are now seeking a board decision on the definition of "temporary." We do not believe that this definition will include a situation in which a preference eligible employee remains unassigned for years, with no attempt to assign the employee to a same-level assignment.