Pennsylvania Employment Law Update – November 2016

Veterans Preference Policy

On November 3, 2016, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed legislation (H.B. 1600) allowing private employers to adopt a veterans’ preference employment policy. Veterans’ preference employment policy means a voluntary policy adopted by a private employer for hiring, promoting, or retaining a veteran, a spouse of a disabled veteran, or a surviving spouse over another qualified applicant or employee.

For an employer to implement a veterans’ preference policy, the policy must:

• Be in writing.
• Include a statement in any job posting that indicates that the employer has and applies a veterans’ preference employment policy.
• Be provided to the applicant at the time of hiring and provided to all employees on an annual basis.
• Be applied uniformly to employment decisions regarding the hiring of new applicants, the promotion of current employees, and the retention of employees during a reduction in the workforce.

To be eligible for the preference, a veteran, spouse of a disabled veteran, or surviving spouse must submit the DD 214 of the veteran to the employer.

The bill goes into effect on January 1, 2017.

Read PA H.B. 1600