5 U.S.C. § 3308
Section 3308 · Competitive service; examinations; educational requirements prohibited; exceptions
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case Stewart v. Smith (1982)
Most recently applied in Eric Williams v. Department of Defense (August 2022)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The Office of Personnel Management or other examining agency may not prescribe a minimum educational requirement for an examination for the competitive service except when the Office decides that the duties of a scientific, technical, or professional position cannot be performed by an individual who does not have a prescribed minimum education. The Office shall make the reasons for its decision under this section a part of its public records.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
The prohibition is restated in positive form. The words “The Civil Service Commission or other examining agency” are added because these are the only agencies to which the prohibition could apply.
Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.
Amendments
1978—Pub. L. 95–454 substituted “Office of Personnel Management” and “Office” for “Civil Service Commission” and “Commission”, respectively, wherever appearing.
Effective Date of 1978 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 95–454 effective 90 days after Oct. 13, 1978, see section 907 of Pub. L. 95–454, set out as a note under section 1101 of this title.