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State Employment Preference — Five Points, Ten With a Disability or Purple Heart

Preference points added to a passing score for state jobs open to the public: five points or five percent of the total possible score for a veteran or service member, ten for a veteran with a disability or a Purple Heart recipient, and the same percentage for a spouse or surviving spouse.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Preference points added to a passing score for state jobs open to the public: five points or five percent of the total possible score for a veteran or service member, ten for a veteran with a disability or a Purple Heart recipient, and the same percentage for a spouse or surviving spouse.

What it's worth: Five points or 5%, ten points or 10% with a disability or Purple Heart

  • The division describes five points or five percent of the total possible score, whichever is greater, for a veteran or service member.
  • Ten points or ten percent applies to a veteran or service member with a disability — at any percentage — or a Purple Heart recipient.
  • A spouse or surviving spouse receives the same percentage the qualifying veteran is or would have been entitled to.
  • Points are added to a passing score; they do not create one.

Who is entitled to it

  • The preference reaches the veteran or service member and their spouse or surviving spouse.
  • Your home is in Utah.

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 yes on the veteran status indicator when you apply, then select the basis for the preference. Missing that step is the usual reason points are not applied.
  2. 2Upload the proof with the application: the DD Form 214, the VA status letter, or the spouse’s equivalent documents.
  3. 3Claim the ten-point basis if it applies. A disability at any percentage, or the Purple Heart, moves you from five points to ten.
  4. 4A spouse or surviving spouse should claim on the veteran’s basis — the percentage follows what the veteran is or would have been entitled to.
  5. 5Remember the points attach to a passing score. They improve a place in the ranking; they do not substitute for meeting the requirements.
Form
The state job application, with the veteran status indicator
File with
The hiring agency, through the state application system
Documents you will need
dd214 · va benefit summary letter
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
Worth knowingA disability at any percentage reaches the ten-point level here. Several preference schemes require a compensable or a 30% rating for the higher tier; this one, as the division describes it, does not.
Known gapThe sections themselves have not been read, so nothing is claimed about which entities beyond the state are bound, or about how a preference is enforced if an agency does not apply it.

Sources

Why only one source type: Read from the administering division’s own hiring page, which applies the sections and states the point levels. The Legislature’s own publication of the Code refused every connection this session.

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