Groups push for laws to help vets find jobs
With the memorial to Bay State troops killed since 9/11 completed, the combat veterans of Massachusetts Fallen Heroes have joined other veterans groups to advocate for those who came home alive, pushing new laws to strengthen hiring preferences for government jobs.
The Massachusetts Military Veterans Alliance — composed of members of several statewide veterans groups including Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans — has introduced a series of measures on Beacon Hill to reform the civil service commission, which enforces veteran preferences and administers exams for police, fire and other public jobs.
Working with state Sen. Michael F. Rush (D-Boston) and state Rep. John C. Velis (D-Westfield) of the Joint Committee on Veterans Affairs, the alliance maintains that city and town hiring managers often try to skirt veterans preference laws to hire candidates they know.
Dan Magoon, alliance chairman, said there needs to be closer scrutiny of communities adhering to veteran hiring preferences.
“There’s really no true governance, or anyone held accountable,” he said.
The package includes bills that would:
• Make the veterans hiring preference apply in cities and towns that opt to withdraw from the civil service system to fill police and fire jobs.
• Disallow requiring vets to submit their military personnel records for the purposes of employment. The military’s administrative, medical and performance reviews are often so detailed they put vets at a disadvantage compared to civilian job candidates, the group claims.
“No one else has to go through that level of scrutiny on a regular basis,” said Marine Reserve Capt. Michael Devin of Dorchester, a spokesman for the alliance, adding that the minutiae of these records are used to justify bypassing vets on hiring lists.
• Add veterans to the groups protected under state law against discrimination in admission into places of “public accommodation, resort or amusement.”
• Require employers pay full salary to those on active duty who are called for service beyond the military training allotment mandated by federal law, typically a little over a month. Devin said employers sometimes require National Guard members who work weekends to use vacation time to secure full pay to participate in mandatory drills.
• Add a $100,000 veterans ombudsman for civil service, who’d help vets and Gold Star families secure their rights to job preferences and protest being bypassed.
• Require the civil service commission to deliver exam results to cities and towns 90 days after the test is taken; currently it can take six months or longer.
The civil service reforms reportedly have run into opposition from the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which argues that city and town managers need more flexibility to swiftly fill vacancies. An MMA spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.