The 180 Day Rule

The 180 Day Rule

Our first piece covers a topic that potentially affects everyone leaving active duty in the military. The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), a professional association of US military officers, believes that it’s time for a closer look at a key rule governing the employment of veterans in civilian positions with the Department of Defense. They’re helping sponsor the Retain Skilled Veterans Act, a bipartisan effort that aims to do away with the mandatory 180-day waiting period one must observe after leaving the military before being hired by DoD.

In a statement posted to its website, the MOAA said that this 180 day constraint inconveniences veterans, and makes it difficult for DoD to fill key positions. According to the MOAA, this is hamstringing national defense. The rule was suspended between 2001 and 2016 during the state of national emergency declared after 9/11, and MOAA does not believe that this rule/constraint is necessary anymore.

Why was the rule adopted in the first place? In the years after WWII and the Korean War, hiring unqualified veterans into government service was seen as a problem — so much so, that it prompted research culminating in the publication in 1961 of a DoD memorandum named for the Deputy Secretary of Defense who signed it, Roswell L. Gilpatric. Testifying before Congress, Gilpatric recommended that the rule be made into an executive action and left to the discretion of DoD — but Congress went a step further, and codified it into law in 1964.

One can read about the strange history of what has come to be known as “the 180 day rule” in a report issued under the Obama Administration, “Veteran Hiring in the Civil Service: Practices and Perceptions,” available here. The fourth section of the report offers a good overview. I was most surprised to learn that the law targeted what was seen as widespread inequitable hiring that disadvantaged civilians and was unmeritocratic. As such, the 180 day rule was conceived as being part of the broader movement against discrimination in the workplace, and therefore related to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — not, as I had imagined, something targeting corruption in procurement. It wasn’t observed between 2001-2016, and, according to the Obama-era report, it was rarely observed even beforehand, and loaded with so many caveats it might as well have been worthless.

Times change, as do the circumstances facing veterans. The veterans of GWOT who are retiring today are not in danger of overwhelming civilian employers, as were (apparently) the veterans of WWII and Korea, nor are they seen as disadvantaging better-qualified civilians, competitively. The legislation favored by MOAA is H.R. 939 in the House, introduced by Reps. Blake Moore (R-Utah) and Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), and S. 334 in the Senate, introduced by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz). If you have strong feelings about doing away with the 180 day rule or keeping it, these are the people to contact, or their staffs.

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News From Around the Military

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News That Impacts Veterans And Their Families

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Commentary and Analysis

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A Little Laughter

Duffel Blog’s got a good one up above the fold — about a colonel who leaves the service to flip bases.