Singling Out Veterans -ROADkill, for "retired on active duty."

[The Straight Story]

Singling Out Veterans
By Brian Friel, National Journal


There are few topics in federal management as emotionally charged as veterans preference, which gives former military members a leg up in federal hiring.
Talk to veterans groups and you'll find they are inundated with complaints from veterans who say they were passed over for jobs. Many - even those who should get special consideration because they are disabled - tell about applying for, and being rejected for, job after federal job.

It's easy to point to statistics that challenge the notion that veterans don't get their due. There are 450,000 veterans in government's civilian ranks. That's 25 percent, much higher than the 11 percent in the U.S. workforce overall. In 2003, 33 percent of new federal hires were veterans. That would suggest veterans preference is highly successful.

Managers say it is veterans preference - not veterans themselves - that they dislike. They say it enables unqualified candidates to get jobs in their programs. If managers are going to be judged on program results, they contend they should be able to hire the most qualified people.

Some say that, in their experience, retired military personnel with 20 years of service seek federal jobs so they can coast to a pension five years later. (Such employees are called ROADkill, for "retired on active duty.") Others who want to hire people just out of college, or minorities, say veterans take jobs those candidates could fill.

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