by Mark M. Schorr
Private employers in Nebraska will be allowed to implement policies giving hiring preference to veterans when a new law takes effect on August 30.
Legislative Bill 272 will allow private employers with one or more employees to have a preference for veterans in hiring decisions without violating other laws that prohibit employment discrimination. Covered veterans include individuals who (1) served full-time in the U.S. armed forces with military pay and allowances and (2) received an honorable or general discharge.
The law also covers the spouses of veterans who were killed in hostile action or suffered a 100 percent permanent disability as determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The law doesn’t cover individuals whose service was solely for training or determining physical fitness.
Employers’ policies must be in writing and applied uniformly to hiring and promotion decisions. Private employers adopting veteran preference policies must notify the Nebraska commissioner of labor. The commissioner will use the information to maintain a registry of private employers that have a veteran preference policy.
For more information on Nebraska’s veteran preference law, see the April 2015 issue of Nebraska Employment Law Letter.
Mark M. Schorr is the editor of Nebraska Employment Law Letter and an attorney with Erickson & Sederstrom, P.C. in Lincoln, Nebraska. He can be reached at schorr@eslaw.com.