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JOBS AND THE WOUNDED SOLDIER -- Complaints

often lost in the shuffle and grievances alleging

bias are underreported.

 

 

Story here... http://www.charlotte.com/mld/
charlotte/news/16656968.htm

Story below:

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JOBS AND THE WOUNDED SOLDIER

Complaints often lost in shuffle

Grievances alleging bias underreported, U.S. report indicates

MIKE DRUMMOND
mdrummond@charlotteobserver.com

Bobby Tedder hopes to regain full use of his left leg and return to fixing nuclear power plants for Duke Energy.

The Cherryville man recovering from severe wounds from a roadside bomb in Iraq is confident he won't be a victim of wound-related discrimination.

He's a 54-year-old sergeant in the N.C. Army National Guard who was called to active duty. The law says he's entitled to have his job back. For now, the company and he are on the same page.

Too often, citizen-soldiers like Tedder are lost in the shuffle when they file grievances, the government says. A Government Accountability Office report released Thursday indicates federal agencies are allowing too many employment complaints from wounded soldiers to go unreported.

Of more than 16,000 employer-related complaints from returning service members between 2004 and 2006, at least 200 were disability related. However, that number is understated because agencies lack a standard way to categorize disability complaints, the GAO said.

That leaves Congress and the public with no clear picture of how many disabled veterans face workplace discrimination when they return home.

The report recommends that the four federal agencies responsible for handling employment complaints from citizen soldiers implement a common system for listing disability grievances, and that all reasons be listed.

"As a society, we owe something to men and women who leave their jobs and put themselves in harm's way for their country," said Sam Wright, a lawyer who regularly writes about legal rights of service members. "We especially owe something to those who come back with significant disabilities."

Since 9-11, the nation has mobilized more than half a million National Guard and Reserves, the largest call-up of its kind since World War II. Complaints against employers have spiked since 2000, as more Guard and Reserves have been plucked from and thrust back to civilian jobs.

Federal law requires employers to make "reasonable efforts" to accommodate returning employees disabled while on military duty, provided they notify employers, among other things.

A disability finding gives wounded soldiers the leverage needed to get back on the payroll in some capacity.

When filing complaints, wounded soldiers must say the word "disability" to have their cases classified as combat injury-related discrimination, said Derek Stewart, the GAO official who oversaw the report.

Yet federal caseworkers are "not always listing the complaints as a disability complaint, even when the word disability is used," Stewart said.

Despite repeated recommendations from the GAO since 2002, the four agencies that handle employment complaints from soldiers still don't share all relevant information. Although most employers follow the law governing rehiring citizen soldiers, the GAO report again shows federal agencies are underreporting the scope of reemployment problems.

In its reports to Congress for 2004 and 2005, the Department of Labor failed to include about 10,000 informal complaints filed with the Department of Defense. That left lawmakers with an inaccurate picture and not enough information to form effective remedies, the GAO noted.

Charles Ciccolella, assistant secretary of labor for the Veterans' Employment and Training Service, recently told the Observer that his agency has to be "much more aware" of disability discrimination.

He said the agency has "put out guidance to investigators that as they begin an investigation, we want them to read the regulations" and take pains to properly categorize complaints.

In an era when treatment of troops is virtually sacrosanct, even anti-war activists profess support for soldiers. And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has conducted no business-impact studies related to troop deployments, reflecting the sensitivity of the issue.

Lobbying against an employment law protecting veterans "is like lobbying against mom, apple pie and the flag," noted Kenny Colbert, president of a Charlotte human resources firm.

Tedder, the Cherryville Guardsman who wants to return to Duke Energy, is buoyed by the company's generous treatment so far. Duke pays citizen-solder employees 100 percent salary for the first year of deployment, and 75 percent for 104 weeks after that. The law says the company is obligated to pay nothing.

Tedder was riding shotgun in a convoy Aug. 7, plying north from Balad. The roadside bomb tore through the passenger-side fuel tank, shooting hot shrapnel through his left leg and into his wrists. The truck and the brand new Humvee it was ferrying burned for hours.

Tedder is at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., again undergoing rehab. He has worked as a nuclear plant maintenance worker for about 27 years. The job entails crawling, climbing and carrying tools.

"I can't stoop completely without having some pain," he said. "Hopefully that will go away. My leg will never straighten out. It's got a three-degree bend."

And if he can't physically perform his job? "Duke will work with me," he said. "I feel sure."

When it comes to rehiring employees disabled while deployed, "We handle those on a case-by-case basis," Duke spokesman Tom Shiel said last month.

In a more recent interview, Shiel said he could not comment specifically on Tedder. But "we're certainly going to do what we can," he added. "We'll certainly make reasonable accommodations."

Free Help for Soldiers

Returning troops who encounter problems with employers can file their own lawsuits. However, doing so disqualifies them from free help through four federal agencies. They are:

The Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service, www.dol.gov/vets

The Department of Defense's Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, http://esgr.org/contact.asp

Office of Special Counsel (for federal employees), www.osc.gov/userra.htm

The Department of Justice. It only represents those who have made formal written complaints to the Department of Labor, and only after DOL has unsuccessfully attempted to resolve the matter.

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Larry Scott  --