Guardsmen’s job rights emphasized

Although the number of employment discrimination complaints by reservists and guardsmen has declined in the last three years, the federal prosecutor for Eastern Washington said he wants part-time soldiers to know they do have several options if they think their rights have been violated.

The state Legislature is also moving to add military service to race, religion, age, ethnic background and sexual orientation to the list of protected “classes” in its anti-discrimination law.

U.S. Attorney Jim McDevitt, a former brigadier general for the Washington Air National Guard, said a guest column he wrote that ran in Tuesday’s Spokesman-Review wasn’t intended as a call for guardsmen to come forward with allegations of job discrimination.

“I’m not really soliciting complaints,” McDevitt said in an interview. He has heard some individual stories of guardsmen or reservists who think they weren’t hired because they mentioned their service commitment, but that can be very hard to prove.

The state Senate unanimously approved adding military service to the state’s anti-discrimination law, and the House is set to consider the bill later this month. But any employer who dismisses a worker or refuses to hire an applicant specifically because of military service is already breaking federal law. It can result in an investigation by the National Guard Bureau, the U.S. Department of Labor or federal prosecutors.

Most employers are smart enough not to state that as a reason, he added. Usually, the reasons for dismissal or not hiring are “very, very nebulous, or subjective.”

Rather than file federal action, McDevitt said he encourages workers and employers to “work things out” on their own.

Maj. Rob Palmer of the Employer Support of Guard and Reserve office in Arlington, Va., said the number of complaints filed by guardsmen and reservists has declined in the last three years. So has the number of complaints that the military has referred to the U.S. Labor Department.

The reason for that may be tied to the number of guardsmen and reservists who were activated in those years. Activation peaked in 2004 at about 150,000 men and women, Palmer said. In 2005 and 2006, the numbers were down to about 100,000.

More companies are also becoming aware that the federal law prohibiting discrimination for military service applies to all employers, regardless of size, Palmer said.

Lt. Keith Kosik, a spokesman for the Washington National Guard, said that while some guardsmen may feel that they aren’t hired because of their service commitments, there are no numbers to suggest whether that’s up or down.

Rather than talking about complaints or discrimination, Kosik said the Guard prefers to stress what great employees their members make.