Executive Order 5610—Amendment of the Civil-Service Rules Relating to Veterans' Preference

The civil-service rules are hereby amended as indicated below. Rule VI, paragraph 1, is amended to read as follows by eliminating the sentence "Applicants for entrance examination who, because of disability, are entitled either to a pension by authorization of the Bureau of Pensions or to compensation or training by the Veterans' Bureau, and widows of honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines, and wives of injured soldiers, sailors, and marines who themselves are not qualified, but whose wives are qualified for appointment, shall have ten points added to their earned ratings," and substituting therefor the sentence "Applicants for entrance examination who are honorably discharged and who establish by official records the present existence of a service-connected disability, and widows of honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines, and wives of honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines who because of service-connected disability are themselves not qualified but whose wives are qualified for appointment, shall have ten points added to their earned ratings; and this shall also apply to retired officers and enlisted men who establish through official sources the present existence of a service- connected disability in the same manner as is required of others who are granted disability preference": Examination papers shall be rated on a scale of 100, and the subjects therein shall be given such relative weights as the commission may prescribe. Honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines shall have five points added to their earned ratings in examinations for entrance to the classified service. Applicants for entrance examination who are honorably discharged and who establish by official records the present existence of a service-connected disability, and widows of honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines, and wives of honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines who because of service-connected disability are themselves not qualified but whose wives are qualified for appointment, shall have ten points added to their earned ratings; and this shall also apply to retired officers and enlisted men who establish through official sources the present existence of a service-connected disability in the same manner as is required of others who are granted disability preference. In examinations where experience is an element of qualifications, time spent in the military or naval service of the United States during the World War or the war with Spain shall be credited in an applicant's ratings where the applicant's actual employment in a similar vocation to that for which he applies was temporarily interrupted by such military or naval service but was resumed after his discharge. Competitors shall be duly notified of their ratings. Rule VI, paragraph 2, is amended to read as follows by eliminating the clause "but the names of disabled veterans, their wives, and the widows of honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines shall be placed above all others," and substituting therefor the clause "but the names of persons entitled to disability preference as defined in paragraph 1 of this rule shall be placed above all others": All competitors rated at 70 or more shall be eligible for appointment, and their names shall be placed on the proper register according to their ratings; but the names of persons entitled to disability preference as defined in paragraph 1 of this rule shall be placed above all others. The foregoing amendments to Civil-Service Rule VI will apply to future examinations conducted by the Civil Service Commission. Rule VII, paragraph 1(6), is amended to read as follows by eliminating the sentence "An appointing officer who passes over a veteran eligible and selects a nonveteran with the same or lower rating shall place in the records of the department his reasons for so doing," and substituting therefor the sentence "An appointing officer who passes over a veteran eligible and selects a non veteran with the same or lower rating shall file with the Civil Service Commission the reasons for so doing, which reasons will become a part of the veteran's record but will not be made available to the veteran or to anyone else except in the discretion of the appointing officer": The nominating or appointing officer shall make selections for the first vacancy from not more than the highest three names certified, or on the register, with sole reference to merit and fitness, unless objection shall be made and sustained by the commission, to one or more of the persons certified, for any of the reasons stated in Rule V, section 4. For the second vacancy he shall make selection from not more than the highest three remaining, who have not been within his reach for three separate vacancies, or against whom objection has not been made and sustained in the manner indicated. The third and any additional vacancies shall be filled in like manner. More than one selection may be made from the three names next in order for appointment, or from two names if the register contains only two, subject to the requirements of section 2 of this rule as to the apportionment. An appointing officer who passes over a veteran eligible and selects a nonveteran with the same or lower rating shall file with the Civil Service Commission the reasons for so doing, which reasons will become a part of the veteran's record but will not be made available to the veteran or to anyone else except in the discretion of the appointing officer. Any eligible who has been within reach for three separate vacancies in his turn may be subsequently selected, subject to the approval of the commission from the certificate on which liis name last appeared, if the condition of the register has not so changed as to place him in other respects beyond reach of certification. The Civil Service Commission is authorized to hold quarterly examinations for positions for which there are existing registers of eligibles, such examinations to be open only to the men and women entitled to disability preference as herein provided, the names of the resulting eligibles to be entered at the head of the existing registers in the order of ratings attained in competition with the disability-preference eligibles, if any, whose names may already appear at the head of such registers. HERBERT HOOVER The White House, April 24, 1931.