“Senate Bill 245, Veterans Hiring Preferences – Spouses, became law on October 1st. Senate Bill 245 authorizes an employer to grant a hiring and promotion preference to an eligible veteran, the spouse of an eligible veteran who has service-connected disability, or the surviving spouse of a deceased eligible veteran.
All states grant some form of employment preference to veterans in the public sector, but private employers have been hesitant to favor veterans because of provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibit discrimination in hiring. An exception to the federal law, however, allows preferences for veterans if they are authorized under federal, state, or local law. An eligible veteran is a veteran of any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, including the National Guard and the military reserves, who has received an honorable discharge or a certificate of satisfactory completion of military service. The bill establishes that granting this preference does not violate any State or local Equal Employment Opportunity law.”
A copy of the legislation may be found here