From Deseret News archives:
Utah guardsmen say jobs safe
"I see the situation for returning soldiers as very positive," said 2nd Lt. Kevin Larsen, spokesman for the Utah National Guard's 151st Air Refueling Wing.
Larsen has been deployed overseas three times since 2000, and each time he slid effortlessly back into his job as an adult probation and parole officer with the Utah Department of Corrections.
For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve state committee in Utah fielded 26 "inquiries" from returning soldiers and airmen. An inquiry can be a simple question, not necessarily a complaint, about returning to work, Larsen said.
All but three of the 26 cases were "resolved," said Larsen, who hasn't heard of a single Utahn over the past year who did not return to the same regular job after a tour of duty. Currently, about 600 Utah guardsmen and reservists are deployed overseas.
"I think Utah has probably got a higher spirit of support and commitment to the armed forces," said Kim Watts, administrative assistant with the ESGR committee.
Watts credits that support to a strong National Guard and Army Reserve presence in Utah, combined with ESGR's efforts to educate employers about the 1994 Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The intent of that law is to secure the same pay, benefits and job status for returning service members that they would have attained if they had not been deployed.
But USA Today reported earlier this month that across the country the number of reservists and National Guard members who have lost their jobs, seniority or benefits after returning from deployment has increased by more than 70 percent in the past six years. USA Today relied on U.S. Labor Department figures.
"I would think those numbers are a little bit skewed," Larsen said about the USA Today story. "I can't imagine employers across the country fighting against our soldiers that have been fighting for our country."
Larsen may be right.
In the past five years, more than 550,000 different guardsmen and reservists have been deployed overseas, according to Maj. Rob Palmer, spokesman for the ESGR's national committee in Virginia. As a result, the ESGR has seen an increase in calls, most of which get resolved, said Palmer, who was a source in the USA Today story.
"The number of unresolvable issues is a very, very small percentage of that 550,000," he added.
A resolution usually involves the ESGR's "informal" mediation to explain the law to guardsmen, reservists and their employers.
