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Preference in Hiring AND Promotion — Enforceable by Mandamus

A veteran receives preference for appointment, employment and promotion across state departments, counties, municipalities and school districts — with a required interview at minimum qualifications, removal protection with the burden on the employer, and a court remedy when the preference is refused.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

A veteran receives preference for appointment, employment and promotion across state departments, counties, municipalities and school districts — with a required interview at minimum qualifications, removal protection with the burden on the employer, and a court remedy when the preference is refused.

What it's worth: Preference at appointment, employment and promotion; disabled veterans preferred over nondisabled

  • The preference applies at appointment, employment and promotion, and disabled veterans are preferred over nondisabled veterans.
  • It binds state, county, municipal and school-district employers — not the state alone.
  • An interview is mandatory where the applicant meets the minimum qualifications.
  • Removal from a position held under the preference is only for cause, and the burden of establishing cause rests on the employer.
  • The preference is enforceable by mandamus. That is a real remedy and the reason this preference has teeth where others do not.
  • Because the value is a materially better chance at a job rather than a payment, no dollar figure is given.

Who is entitled to it

  • You are a veteran as the state defines one.
  • You are applying in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Answer the veteran question on the application — SDCL 3-3-1 requires every covered application to ask it, and that answer is what triggers the preference.
  2. 2If you meet the minimum qualifications, SDCL 3-3-2 requires the employer to interview you — not merely consider the file.
  3. 3The preference reaches PROMOTION, not just hiring, and covers counties, municipalities and school districts as well as the state. A veteran with a service-connected disability is preferred over a nondisabled veteran.
  4. 4Refusal of the preference is enforceable by mandamus (3-3-3); an employed preference-holder can be removed only for cause after a hearing, with the burden on the employer (3-3-4); noncompliance is a Class 1 misdemeanor (3-3-5).
Form
Employment application — the veteran question on the form triggers the preference
File with
The hiring public employer
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
Worth knowingSpouse provisions: the unmarried spouse of a veteran who died in service or from a service-connected cause inherits the preference (3-3-7), and the spouse of a disabled veteran who cannot exercise the preference because of the disability may exercise it instead (3-3-8). Department heads, policy-forming officials and confidential positions are exempt (3-3-6).
CorrectionMost summaries describe state veteran preference as points on an exam. This state grants no points at all — the preference is absolute in structure, reaches promotion, and is backed by a misdemeanor penalty, closer to the absolute-preference model a few northeastern states use than to the federal 5/10-point one.

Sources

Why only one source type: The chapter itself, read in full from the legislature's statute site, states the preference, the interview duty, the enforcement and the penalties in terms.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.