ESGR underscores need for USERRA law

The CNMI Guam Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Ombudsman Field Committee was on island last week to brief the community on the importance of the Uniformed Services of the Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.

ESGR Field Committee director David Sablan Jr. said he has been receiving reports that some government employees who were deployed are not getting their military services credited to their government service for seniority and pension benefits. There were also reports of some service members returning from deployment and finding out that they don’t have a job or they are given a job at the same rate while the rest were given increases while he was away.

Sablan said such are examples violations of the USERRA law, which protects the jobs of service members that go on deployment.

“Because of the global war on terror that we’re in, a lot of employers are seeing many of their employees going for long lengths of time for military service. When we were on peace mode, we only had to deal with weekend drill and once in a while, two-week trainings,” Sablan said.

These days, though, “we’re seeing six months, one year, 18 months or two year or more at a time. The USERRA basically protects the jobs of these individual while on deployment and when they return they must have their jobs back and not only at the level they left their jobs, but at the level that they would have earned had they continued to stay on the job,” Sablan said.

The role of the ESGR Ombudsman, on the other hand, is to view the misunderstandings and miscommunications between employer and employee and apply the USERRA law to the situation and inform both employer and employee so that they can resolve the situation according to the law.

Nationwide, the ESGR Ombudsman was able to resolve 95 percent of misunderstandings or disputes raised by employers.

“Only 5 percent go to next level, which is going to court for resolution,” said Sablan.

He said he visited the Army Reserve Center Wednesday afternoon last week and was told that there are at least three service members raising issues about their employers violating the USERRA law.

He advises these individuals to fill out Form 100 and submit it to the CNMI ESGR Office for case assignment. The form will be routed to Sablan by Washington D.C. where the case is filed. Sablan will then get in touch with the service member and the employer to confirm both sides of their stories and try to get them to understand the USERRA law and then have the service member and the employer resolve the situation. Otherwise it will head to court for resolution.

According to Sablan, the USERRA law is needed because the nation has an all-volunteer force. Service members often worry about their civilian jobs or family back home, so that they cannot focus on military mission. In such a situation, “no one will volunteer.”

“In order to have an all-volunteer force and in order for our service members to fight for our country and freedom, Congress intended for this law to be liberally interpreted on the side of service members,” Sablan said.

He added that, “Congress intended for service members who live private lives to go into the service of our country and put their lives on the line. Congress intended for these individuals to have special privileges and rights different from other employees in our organization or companies, just as we have to give special privileges to the handicapped.”

Sablan said the global war on terror has really highlighted the need for the USERRA law.

“We must look up to these service members for their sense of service and duty to protect the lifestyle that we have come to enjoy. ESGR was especially enacted by Secretary of Defense to support our troops,” Sablan said.