Going back to work not so easy for self-employed Guardsmen

NAMPA, Idaho – Army National Guard soldiers returning to Idaho from Iraq have some protections when it comes to getting their old jobs back. But Guardsmen who were self-employed might face more challenges when they try to return to the civilian workforce.

Matt Salisbury was self-employed in sales before he left Idaho.

He contracted independently with four different companies in the area, but it wasn’t possible for them to hold his contracts.

“He’ll have to reinvent the wheel,” Chandra Salisbury, Matt’s wife, told the Nampa Press Tribune on Monday.

“It’s not possible to go back to those companies.”

Kevin Wolf of Nampa worked for Pacific Republic Mortgage as a loan officer, but the company was purchased by GMAC Mortgage Corp. not long after he left for training in Texas.

That means Wolf will have to re-establish himself in the area’s financial industry when he arrives home in early November.

Dick Deam, executive director of the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve, said federal law protects jobs for most soldiers, but when they leave businesses behind, his organization can’t do much to help in the interim.

“Our job is to make sure that if they had a job when they left, they have a job when they come back,” Deam said.

Although the organization is not responsible for helping soldiers find jobs, it does have an informal network to provide assistance when it can.

Employers can post jobs on the Idaho-esgr.org Web site.

For Guardsmen who left jobs, Idaho state law says that “any member of the Idaho National Guard who is ordered to duty by the governor and who is employed shall be entitled to be rehired upon release from duty.”