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Returning troops have lost their jobs { August 16 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usjobs163931613aug16,0,7411448.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlineshttp://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usjobs163931613aug16,0,7411448.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines
Returning troops battle for jobs
Many reservists and guardsmen find the 1994 law designed to protect work status is not working for them
The Associated Press
August 16, 2004
WASHINGTON -- Increasing numbers of National Guard and Reserve troops who have returned from war in Iraq and Afghanistan are encountering new battles with their civilian employers at home. Jobs were eliminated, benefits reduced and promotions forgotten.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Labor Department reports receiving greater numbers of complaints under a 1994 law designed to give Guard and Reserve troops their old jobs back or provide them with equivalent positions. Benefits and raises must be protected, as if the serviceman or servicewoman had never left.
Some soldiers, however, are finding the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act can't protect them. While the law strengthened previous protections, it doesn't help doctors, lawyers or small-business owners who depend on maintaining a client base. It doesn't save jobs eliminated by plant closings or budget cuts. And it doesn't help injured troops who can no longer perform the work they once did.
Larry Gill couldn't return as a police officer in Thomasville, Ala., because a grenade injured his foot, making it impossible for him to chase criminals or duck bullets. Jerry Chambers, of Oberlin, Kan., discovered budget cuts had eliminated his job as a substance abuse prevention consultant. Ron Vander Wal, of Pollock, S.D., was originally told his job as a customer service representative was eliminated. He was rehired after filing a civil lawsuit seeking damages.
The Labor Department said complaint numbers would have been worse had the government not made an aggressive effort to explain the law to employers.
The department, which has subpoena power, asks employers to justify firings or reduction of benefits and can refer complaints to the Justice Department for civil lawsuits. Only a small percentage of cases get that far.
"Any increase in the number of complaints is a concern to us," said Fred Juarbe Jr., assistant secretary of labor for veterans employment and training. "At the same time, we're pleased by the fact that the increase in complaints is not at the level that would have been expected."
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said the department is drafting rules to spell out the law's protections for service personnel.
"We've got to do everything we can to protect their re-employment rights," she said.
The department was receiving about 900 formal complaints a year before Sept. 11, 2001.
The statistical picture since then, based on fiscal years ending Sept. 30: 1,218 cases opened in 2002; 1,327 cases in 2003; 1,200 cases from Oct. 1, 2003, through July 31. If projected over 12 months, the figure would be 1,440, the department said.
The department upheld or settled soldiers' complaints in a third of last year's cases, while another third were found to have no merit. The remaining cases are inactive or closed, often because the government lost contact with the soldier or the soldier returned to active duty.
When Guard and Reserve troops returned from the Gulf War, there was one complaint for every 54 soldiers leaving active duty.
Now, with the government's drive to inform employers of the law, the figure has improved to 1 in 69.
The complaints represent a small percentage of the quarter-million Guard and Reserve troops who have left active duty since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
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