Reservists in the office

One weekend a month, two weeks a year.

In the early days of Maj. Gen. Harry "Skip" Philips' 33-year Army Reserve career, the military life of a reservist was fairly easy to script. Work during the week, and for one weekend a month and two designated weeks during the year, you were Uncle Sam's.

The

training in those days was different, too. The reservists were a strategic component. Their training was based on the premise that the military's reserve component would be needed in large numbers only when an event required the attention of the United States' entire military contingency. If mobilization was necessary, reservists had ample time to make arrangements at home and at work.

Then Desert Storm came along and overhauled the use of the military's reserve component. The use of the reserve component in a widespread mobilization was no longer a farfetched possibility set aside for worst-case scenarios.

More than half of the military personnel in the last rotation into Iraq were National Guard and reserves. In the primary fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, two million members of the military have been deployed, about 30% who come from the reserve component.

This means juggling private employment and military service has become more tenuous. One weekend a month and two weeks a year went from a fairly sure bet to the bare minimum amount of time a reservist could expect to spend in uniform, leaving employers unsure of what their workforce would look like any given day. "The notion that they might be gone for a year was different," says Philips, commanding general of the 377th Theater Sustainment Command in Belle Chasse and a law partner at Taylor Porter in Baton Rouge.

When Philips faced his first mobilization, his law firm was supportive of the time he needed to spend away from work. But others do not always find themselves in the same situation, despite laws protecting the private sector employment of those serving in the reserve components of the military.

The Uniform Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act outlines the accommodations employers have to make for their employees who have been mobilized. Aside from outlining the benefits available to reservists, USERRA guarantees not only that a reservist has a job when he returns but that he is not penalized for being away.

"The law requires they be treated as though they never left," says Lester Parmenter, director of veterans' employment and training service for the U.S. Department of Labor. Pay increases, promotions, seniority and other length-of-employment issues have to remain intact and progress while the reservist is mobilized.

Parmenter's office handles employer compliance for Louisiana and says very few complaints are lodged by reservists who are denied re-employment of any sort and instead deal with more specific length-ofemployment issues. In all, he estimates only about 3% of personnel mobilized face significant workplace problems when they return. "That shows you how supportive employers really are being," says Parmenter.

In the early days of military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan there was an even lower level of reservistemployer conflicts that made their way to Parmenter's office. As the conflicts continued, however, there was a slight increase.

The majority of conflicts between, reservists and employers stem from a misunderstanding or ignorance of the law, and can be resolved with little more than a phone call. But that's only if it doesn't make it as far as the Department of Labor, which has minimum steps that must be taken once a complaint is filed.

If a complaint does make it to the Labor Department, it is investigated. When the employer is found in violation of USERRA, he or she has the option of voluntary compliance. If a suitable solution cannot be found, there are two options if the employee wants to take the complaint further.

The first is for the employee to get independent counsel and try to litigate the case. The second is to allow the Department of Labor to refer the case to the attorney general for litigation. The latter is a process that could last as much as two years as it goes through a threetier review In the Department of justice to see if a case should be brought against the employer by the local U.S. Attorney.

The mobilization of reserve components is certainly no easy matter for employers either, particularly the further up the management chain the employee has risen. "It leaves a void in the system," says Jay Campbell, head of Associated Grocers. "It's not a show-stopper, necessarily, but it creates problems."

Campbell and Associated Grocers are one of about 70 employers, including various governmental entities, who have signed a letter of support for employees in the reserve components. For Campbell and other employers, the temporary loss of an employee is worth the trade off. In return, they have someone who works for them who understands the need to be places on time and get tasks accomplished. "They become more vigilant of the world around them, and frankly, more appreciative," says Campbell.

And that, Philips says, has proven to be quite a selling point for the reserve components. "You dont have to look over their shoulder. They're going to bring a lot of credit to the organization."