Returning veterans allege job bias by U.S.

By: JournalNow Staff | The Washington Post
Published: February 21, 2012

WASHINGTON --

Every year, more than 1,000 National Guard, reserve and active-duty troops coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan or other military duty complain of being denied jobs or otherwise being penalized by employers because of their military obligations.

The biggest offender: the federal government.

It is against federal law for employers to penalize service members because of their military service. And yet, in some cases, the U.S. government has withdrawn job offers to service members unable to get released from active duty fast enough; in others, service members have been fired after absences.

In fiscal 2011, more than 18 percent of the 1,548 complaints of violations of that law involved federal agencies, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show.

"On the one hand, the government asked me to serve in Iraq," said retired Army Brig. Gen. Michael Silva, a reservist who commanded a brigade in Iraq and was fired from his job as a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol contractor upon his return. "On the other hand, another branch of government was not willing to protect my rights after serving."

The government is the largest employer of citizen soldiers. Roughly 123,000 of the 855,000 Guard members and reservists, or about 14 percent, have civilian jobs with the federal government.

Over a fourth of federal employees are veterans.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, enacted in 1994 to ensure that members of the military not face disadvantage in their civilian careers because of their service, calls on the federal government to be "a model employer."

Critics say the federal government has been far from perfect, and they fear that with troops back home from Iraq and more on the way from Afghanistan, violations of the law could increase.

The problems persist even though the Obama administration has made a priority of cutting veterans' unemployment rate, which is significantly higher among post-9/11 veterans than in the population as a whole.

Advocates for veterans say the system set up for service members to challenge alleged violations is onerous, with no single agency having oversight.