How an overhaul of federal layoffs could affect veterans

The Trump administration is proposing a major overhaul of how the federal government decides which workers to lay off when eliminating jobs. For veterans, the new rule would prioritize performance reviews over both veteran status and years of service when agencies determine which workers to cut.

The rule, according to one advocate for disabled veterans, could reduce protections for military veterans who hold federal jobs.

”In practice, the rule authorizes the displacement of a preference-eligible veteran with substantially greater tenure and length of service by a non-veteran based on minimal rating differentials, an outcome fundamentally at odds with the statutory scheme Congress enacted,” Scott Hope, national service director for Disabled American Veterans, wrote in a public comment submitted to the federal register on the rule Monday.

Reducing the size of the federal workforce through layoffs and changes in hiring has been a central goal of the Trump administration, a goal that veteran advocates have worried would land hard on the shoulders of vets. More than 621,700 veterans were employed at federal agencies in 2024, making up about 27% of the workforce, according to the Office of Personnel and Management, or OPM. More than half are disabled veterans.

In the March 5 proposed rule, published in the Federal Register, the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, which oversees nearly every civilian job in the federal government, said it planned to change the ranking system used during major layoffs.

The new rule would not impact the initial hiring process for federal jobs.

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Under current rules, when federal agencies cut large numbers of jobs, they retain employees based on several factors in the following order of importance: the administrative category of the job (known as the tenure group); veterans preference group (if an employee falls under one); total time an employee has worked in federal service (including time in the military); and then performance reviews.

The proposed rule would reorder the weight of those criteria and make performance reviews “a more significant factor.” Both veteran status and length of service — which benefits many veterans due to military time — would be deprioritized.

OPM officials argued in the notice that since current rules prioritize tenure over merit, “high-performing employees may be separated while lower-performing, but more senior employees, may be retained in a RIF.”

Veterans groups reviewing changes

Federal hiring preferences for veterans date back to 1865, for wounded veterans coming home after the Civil War. The 1944 Veterans Preference Act gave veterans an advantage in the federal hiring process and safeguards against reductions in force. There are some exceptions, however. It does not apply to federal job promotions, transfers, reassignments and reinstatements, nor does it apply to certain senior or executive branch positions.

Officials with Disabled American Veterans, DAV, and Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW, said they are concerned that the rule could remove “long-standing” veterans’ preference rules.

VFW Executive Director Ryan Gallucci told Task & Purpose they are still reviewing the proposed rule and intend to comment and work with OPM “to ensure veterans continue to receive all the employment protections to which they are entitled to.”

Officials with the American Legion said in a statement that they are “carefully reviewing” the proposed rule, adding that veterans bring “highly sought after skills” to the federal workforce.

An OPM official told Task & Purpose that “the framing that the rule gives less weight to veterans preference is not true,” and that the proposed rule puts performance as a primary factor, “but veterans preference is a strong secondary factor.”

The proposed rule comes after a year of mass federal layoffs and buyouts under the Trump administration. More than 348,200 workers quit, retired, were laid off, or otherwise left federal employment in 2025, a jump of more than 80% from 2024, according to Pew Research analysis. As the layoffs grew, OPM stopped providing information on gender, race, ethnicity or disability status of federal workers, although the office had those stats when Pew did its analysis in January 2025.

Public comments on the Federal Register close on May 5.