Senate gets earful about reservist job rights

Senate gets earful about reservist job rights
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Nov 9, 2007 12:12:26 EST

Forty-four percent of National Guard and reserve members who filed formal complaints related to their job rights were dissatisfied with the government’s handling of those complaints, according to Pentagon data released at a Senate hearing Thursday.

And just 23 percent of those who had complaints about their rights sought assistance, according to information released by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

According to the Defense Department’s 2006 Status of Forces Survey, the 77 percent with problems who did not seek help said they didn’t because it was “not worth the fight” (29 percent), they were “unsure of who to contact or how to file a complaint” (23 percent), they “did not have confidence that seeking assistance would result in a resolution” (14 percent), they had “fear of reprisal from employer” (13 percent), or they cited various other concerns (21 percent).

The survey found that nearly 11,000 reservists were denied prompt re-employment after they demobilized, and more than 22,000 lost seniority and rightful pay, Kennedy noted.

“Even more disturbing, veterans who seek help face a Walter Reed-like nightmare — a system that is crumbling and failing to serve them when they need it most,” Kennedy said.

“They have to negotiate a maze of bureaucracy. They can be shuffled among multiple agencies, only to find after all the bureaucratic runaround that they still may have to pay a lawyer to file their case in court. It’s no wonder 77 percent of all veterans say they don’t even bother to seek help” with re-employment issues, he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/military_jobrights_071109w/

If we only have a 4.7% unemployment rate in the US, like our gubermint says, then how come these folks are having so many problems?

"The survey found that nearly 11,000 reservists were denied prompt re-employment after they demobilized, and more than 22,000 lost seniority and rightful pay, Kennedy noted.

One case has dragged on for seven years — and counting. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said a constituent who worked for the Indian National Health Service had no job after returning from military duty because the agency no longer existed.

When that happens to federal employees, the Office of Personnel Management is required to find them another job. The individual’s complaint has not yet been resolved by the Labor Department. He did find a job — but it’s 90 minutes by plane from his home to his office.

Retired Marine Reserve Lt. Col. Joseph Steve Duarte said his company fired him in 2003, nearly four months after he returned from Iraq. He got no help from the Defense Department’s office of Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve or the Labor Department, he said. So he hired his own attorney and sued his company at a cost of more than $12,000. The case lasted 13 months, but the company was found to have violated his USERRA rights.

“They chose to ... spend a significant amount of money, hire a large law firm and fight a single military veteran while this country was still at war,” he said."

If the US has such low unemployment then these people would not be having these kinds of problems. Their employers would be thrilled to have them back.