Will state order mean more St. Paul jobs for veterans?

Oct. 25--For as long as Angie Nalezny can remember, the city of St. Paul has given preference to internal candidates to fill job openings.

Nalezny, the city's human resources director, will meet with half the city's labor unions within the next two weeks to explain that soon may change. Under state law, veterans' rights may trump the city's longstanding practice of promoting from within.

"This is a big deal," Nalezny said.

A recent decision from the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs could lead to the termination of three St. Paul Parks and Recreation supervisors and upend how military veterans' civil service points are handled during job hiring.

Under state law, honorably discharged veterans are eligible to have civil service points added to their job applications, provided they've already obtained a passing grade on their hiring exam. The points can play a decisive role in public-sector employment and promotions.

In the fire department, for example, candidates with the highest civil service scores get firefighter interviews sooner, and then the fire chief decides whom he hires when he has open firefighter jobs.

The recent order centers around Brian Balfanz, a crime analyst with the St. Paul Police Department and a former U.S. Army reservist. The Roseville man applied for a job opening last year as a supervisor with St. Paul Parks and Recreation.

Balfanz, a noncombat veteran of Operation Desert Storm who suffered an ankle injury in training, completed the application for the parks jobs and an initial oral exam, getting a near-failing civil service score of 75.7 points in the process. Then he noticed 15 points hadn't been added to his score as required under the state Veterans Preference Act.

The veterans' preference points, awarded to disabled veterans, would have boosted his application to the top of the interview list of more than 30 applicants.

The city said that in his case, the points didn't apply.

Instead, St. Paul officials indicated that they had received more internal applicants than expected, and that the "open" application process had been converted into a "promotional" exam targeted exclusively to existing Parks and Rec employees.

"We believed we were following the Veterans Preference Act," Nalezny said.

The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, though, has told St. Paul to reopen the interview process to the outside applicants and remove three Parks and Rec supervisors who were hired to fill the spots more than a year ago.

The city's civil service rules, as written, violate state law, said Maplewood attorney John Baker, a retired Marine Corps officer who represented Balfanz in the legal proceedings.

"State law is supreme," Baker said.

The city is weighing whether to appeal the Oct. 13 decision from Deputy Commissioner Brad Lindsay. If upheld, it could have a widespread impact on St. Paul's hiring practices, if not hiring practices statewide.

"We always believed our civil service rules were working in concert with the Veterans Preference Act," Nalezny said. "We have never believed there was a conflict. The (city's) civil service rules are well over 50 years old."

She said she will meet with 10 of the city's 25 bargaining units within the next two weeks to apprise them of the situation. Unless otherwise noted in their labor contracts, city employees have enjoyed promotional rights that guarantee them preference over external candidates.

"We actively recruit veterans. We go to every veterans job fair. There's such a natural fit between military veterans and many of the jobs in the city," Nalezny said.

"(But) under our rules, even if we open our hiring to the public, we still create two lists -- and the internal list (of candidates) must be exhausted," she continued. "We don't know if we're going to appeal or not."

'PASSED OVER'

Balfanz, 42, said Thursday that he felt shortchanged and that he suspects other veterans have been, as well.

"I made three different attempts to get this thing squared away without having to go to court," Balfanz said. "I could still lose if the city appeals. In the meantime, I'm paying a boatload of legal fees.

"There were three jobs available, so I had to be passed over three times," Balfanz continued. "The question I have is, 'Why?' "

The three Parks and Rec supervisor positions initially were advertised in 2013 as open for anyone to apply. After scores were calculated, city officials said that they had received more internal candidates than expected, and that no one outside of Parks and Recreation would be allowed to move forward in the interview process.

In May, Administrative Law Judge Jeanne Cochran took issue with the city changing course midstream and only interviewing and hiring from within the department.

"The posting ... specifically provided that the position was 'open to anyone who meets the position requirements,' " she wrote.

Along with reopening the hiring process, she also recommended awarding veterans' preference points to Balfanz "and any other veterans with a passing examination score ... and interview candidates based on ranked order."

Her report was a recommendation, not a final decision. On Oct. 13, however, Lindsay, the deputy commissioner of Veterans Affairs, agreed with her conclusions and reissued them as an order.

It remains unclear whether the three staffers will return to their previous positions or simply be let go. "We don't know," Nalezny said.

THE PROCESS

In a memo attached to her findings, Cochran noted that under the Veterans Preference Act, all veterans with passing scores on open exams qualify for civil service points, though the points vary. Only disabled veterans qualify for points when the position is considered an internal promotion.

The act adds a credit of 10 points to competitive, open examination results for nondisabled veterans, provided they would have passed the exam without the added points.

A disabled veteran would qualify for 15 points on a passing exam for an open position. For a promotion, a disabled veteran would qualify for five points as long as it is his or her first promotion.

"The Veterans Preference Act allows cities to do internal-only promotions," Nalezny pointed out. Of the new order, she continues: "What this is saying, the minute you open it up (to outside candidates), then the (promotional rights) is contrary to law if a veteran applies."

Laura Kushner, human resources director for the League of Minnesota Cities, said cities have turned to her organization with questions about when to award civil service points.

"Because of the number of returning veterans, cities are facing situations in interpreting this law that have rarely come up in the past," Kushner said.

Some scenarios present challenges. Kushner said cities have struggled to determine whether to award points to veterans who became disabled after leaving the military, among other scenarios that don't appear to be specifically addressed in state statute.

"It seems to be a bit puzzling," she said. "Our policy committee didn't seem to have a strong preference one way or the other. They just wanted clarification. We are very much in favor of hiring veterans."

RESERVISTS CONFUSION

St. Paul sought clarification on other hires, as well. Several military members who applied to be St. Paul firefighters were surprised recently when they didn't get the veterans' preference points on their civil service scores that they expected.

When an Air Force reservist tried to become a St. Paul firefighter earlier but was not hired, he had received veterans' preference points on his score. This year, though, the city declined, saying it had made a mistake the first time.

Another Air Force reservist who completed a year and a half of military training said he received veterans' preference points from a fire department in a neighboring state, but not St. Paul.

Military training is generally not included as a qualifier to establishing veteran status, said Anna Long, Minnesota Veterans Affairs spokeswoman. Active duty members who serve a normal three- or four-year commitment qualify as veterans. However, if a Guard member serves part time for 20 years, but never deploys during that time or serves a tour of at least 181 days of continuous active duty, they may not have veterans status, Long said.

Becoming a St. Paul firefighter is competitive and earning 10 extra points for veterans' preference can give candidates a big edge.

"This takes them from being a candidate to not being a candidate," said Mike Smith, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 21, the union representing rank-and-file St. Paul firefighters.

Because of the cases with the reservists, St. Paul Human Resources asked the state Department of Veterans Affairs if reservist training counts to veterans' preference points, and they responded that it does not, Nalezny said.

There were 1,057 qualified applicants to be St. Paul firefighters this year and 506 passed the written and physical tests. Of the final candidates, 88 applied for veterans' preference points and 75 candidates got them. Of the 13 who didn't, nine were because they had reservist training that didn't count, Nalezny said.

Nalezny said St. Paul wants to give veterans their preference points whenever possible.

"They make great candidates, and a big part of our police and fire departments are veterans," she said. "There's a natural fit there. ... But I have to follow the law, and the state is very clear on who gets veterans' preference points and who doesn't."

Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172 or fmelo@ pioneerpress.com. Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262 or mgottfried@pioneerpress.com.

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