5 U.S.C. § 3310
Section 3310 · Preference eligibles; examinations; guards, elevator operators, messengers, and custodians
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Anthony v. Com. of Mass. (1976)
Most recently applied in 656 F. App'x 537 - Vanderford v. Department of Veterans Affairs (August 2016)
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.
In examinations for positions of guards, elevator operators, messengers, and custodians in the competitive service (other than for positions of housekeeping aides in the Department of Veterans Affairs), competition is restricted to preference eligibles as long as preference eligibles are available.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Statutes at Large
Aug. 14, 1953, ch. 485, §1(a) "Sec. 3 (2d sentence)", 67 Stat. 581.
The words "in the competitive service" are added for clarity. The reference to "examinations held prior to December 31, 1954, for positions of apprentices" is omitted as obsolete. Application of this section to the excepted service in the executive branch and to the government of the District of Columbia, as provided in former section 858, is carried into section 3320.
Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2022—Pub. L. 117–168 inserted "(other than for positions of housekeeping aides in the Department of Veterans Affairs)" after "competitive service".