Amendment to New York State’s Constitution regarding additional veteran credits available to disabled veterans
New York State Constitution, Article 5, §6
Scott DeFruscio, Assistant Director of Staffing Services, New York State Department of Civil Service, has distributed a General Information Bulletin to New York State departments and agencies addressing a recent amendment to the State's Constitution providing certain benefit to disabled veterans. The amendment takes effect January 1, 2014.
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The Bulletin is set out below:
GENERAL INFORMATION BULLETIN No. 13-01
TO: Department and Agency Directors of Human Resource, Personnel and Affirmative Action Officers
FROM: Scott DeFruscio, Assistant Director of Staffing Services
SUBJECT: Amendment to the New York State Constitution re Eligibility for Disabled Veteran Credits on New York State Examinations
DATE: December 26, 2013
Article 5, Section 6, of the New York State Constitution was amended to entitle veterans who have used veteran credits for a Civil Service appointment or promotion and who were/are subsequently certified as being a disabled veteran by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, to additional credits for a subsequent appointment or promotion.
This Constitutional amendment, which is effective January 1, 2014, provides additional veteran credits to a veteran who:
- Used non-disabled veteran credits to obtain a civil service appointment or promotion with New York State or a local government, and,
- Subsequent to such appointment is determined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to be a qualified disabled veteran, as defined in the New York State Civil Service Law.
Such candidate is entitled to 10 additional credits on civil service examinations, minus the number of credits already used for the prior appointment.
Eligible lists established on or after January 1, 2014 will include the additional disabled veteran credits in the scores of candidates who meet the above two conditions and provide the necessary documentation to establish eligibility to the Department of Civil Service (DCS) or other state agency establishing a decentralized eligible list.
DCS is taking steps to revise both the online and paper NYS-APP to provide candidates the ability to claim these additional credits. This will require modifying current systems to automate the capture and processing of veteran credit eligibility information. We are working as expeditiously as possible on these modifications.
In the meantime, DCS has established the following process to notify potentially eligible candidates and provide them a means to claim the additional veteran credits:
- All candidates for examinations for which eligible lists will be established on or after January 1, 2014 will receive notification (attached) of the Constitutional amendment and its effect. The notice will provide the candidate with eligibility information and direct the candidate to this website: www.cs.ny.gov/vetcredits. On the website the candidate will answer questions to assist in determining eligibility and will be able to submit a claim for the additional disabled veteran credits.
- The candidates will have approximately 10 days from receipt of the notice to submit the required information. Candidates may not claim the credits after an eligible list has been established.
- DCS will add the additional credits to scores of candidates who submit a claim and will send these candidates two forms, T-252 and T-252A The candidate will use these forms to request required eligibility verification information from the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the candidate’s previous public sector employer. These forms must be returned to DCS and will be used to verify eligibility for the use of the claimed credit at the time of appointment along with the S-203 Disposition of Veterans Credits documentation. Any candidate who claimed additional disabled veteran credits and has either not provided this Department with needed verification documentation in a timely manner, or who is found to be ineligible, will have the claimed credits removed and their score on the eligible list revised accordingly.
Additional information regarding the affects of the Constitutional amendment, including frequently asked questions, can be found on our website, www.cs.ny.gov/vetcredits.
Decentralized Examinations
Once the DCS revisions of the online and paper NYS-APP are finalized, any special applications for decentralized examinations must be revised in a similar manner. Until such time, agencies must not establish any eligible lists nor add eligibles to continuous recruitment eligible lists resulting from decentralized examinations without first notifying candidates of the ability to claim additional disabled veteran credits, as provided by the Constitutional Amendment. Agency personnel who establish and maintain eligible lists should be informed accordingly. Agencies that administer decentralized examinations should adopt procedures similar to those described above to accept and verify claims for additional disabled veteran credits. The notification to candidates used by DCS may be modified for agency use. The additional veteran credits may only be added to a candidate’s score prior to list establishment. The scores of current list eligibles may not be changed.
Questions may be directed to your Staffing Services Representative.
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