When workers are good soldiers - employees in the National Guard or Reserve - includes related article about employer and employee responsibilities

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1 When workers are good soldiers - employees in the National Guard or Reserve - includes related article about employer and employee responsibilities Nation's Business, Feb, 1997 by Albert G. Holzinger Entrepreneurs have an uncanny knack for spotting--and using to their advantage--a dark cloud's silver lining. Take, for example, Steve Pitt, who owns and operates Architectural Hardware, headquartered in Richmond, Va. Pitt's company fabricates and sells to construction contractors steel and wood doors, door frames, and related hardware. In the summer of 1995, when he had fewer than 25 employees, Pitt decided to open a satellite location in Fredericksburg, Va., about 50 miles north of Richmond. The person he wanted to be the operations manager of the new site was Robert Green, who already was holding down two jobs. Geen not only was key in Architectural Hardware's production operation but also was a sergeant in a local Army National Guard unit. Among his Guard obligations, Green was required to spend two weeks or more a year honing the skills associated with his specialty, combat engineering. Pitt recalls that losing Green to military training for such long periods "was kind of tough." Yet he still felt that Green was the best candidate for operations manager at the new plant. He says he looked beyond the inconveniences resulting from Green's military obligations and saw the positive attitude and work habits nurtured by Green's Guard training. Says Pitt: "Military service appeared to have instilled in Robert a sense of worth and good values, and he seemed to pass those traits along to the others with whom he worked. Then and now, I consider Robert a valuable business asset." Green typifies the men and women who voluntarily attempt the difficult feat of juggling personal lives, civilian careers, and military service, says Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, R- Va. "Generally, this is a group of workers that is well-disciplined, highly motivated, and skilled. It's a good quality of employee," Davis said at a recent event in Tysons Corner, Va., that was aimed at building business support for employees in the military. Davis himself served in active-duty and Reserve units of the Army throughout the 1970s. Early in the period he attended college and law school, and later he was employed as vice president and general counsel of PRC Inc., a high-technology firm in McLean, Va. 1

2 Maj. Gen. William A. Navas, director of the Army National Guard, headquartered at the Pentagon, in Arlington, Va., says another attribute that members of the Reserve or Guard bring to employers is assurance that they are drug-free. "We do regular testing and have a zero-tolerance policy," says Navas, who for 10 years was in the construction contracting business. "The inconvenience of losing [an employee] for short periods is outweighed" by that assurance and other positive factors, he says. Navas, Davis, and Pitt are representative of the legion of military officials and civilian backers working to broaden employer support for current and prospective employees who serve in any of America's seven reserve forces--the Air and Army national guards and the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy reserves. Employer support is vital because the majority of those who leave the Guard or Reserve cite workplace problems resulting from their absences as a key reason. And maintaining a strong Guard and Reserve has become vital to the effective defense of the United States. The reserve forces now make up more than half of America's total military force. Immediately after the highly unpopular Vietnam War, the overall caliber of enlisted men and women was about average, says Lewis C. Brodsky, director of public and congressional affairs at the U.S. Selective Service System, also in Arlington. But the quality began improving dramatically during the 1980s, he says. Ronald Reagan's presidency helped revive America's patriotic spirit, and "a really high quality of people" began enlisting, says Navas. Also during the Reagan administration, Congress dramatically increased weapons-system and other military spending From 1980 to 1989, military spending grew about 10 percent a year, increasing to $295 billion from $131 billion, while inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, averaged about 6 percent a year. It was this potential one-two punch of better soldiers and stateof-the-art weaponry that ultimately ended the Cold War, Navas says. "Because Congress now is trying to balance the budget, fix Medicare, fight crime, and put computers in schools," the military is on a tight budget again, Navas observes. That spending restraint means the United States will have to rely more heavily than ever on Guard and Reserve forces, which cost substantially less per soldier to maintain than active-duty units. Increased reliance on Guard and Reserve members could further erode the already mixed amount of support they receive from business owners tired of losing key employees temporarily, Navas predicts. To minimize the burden on employers, the military is trying to reduce workplace disruption. One major way to do this is by streamlining training. Currently, "a lot of service time--and money--is wasted moving people to locations to receive training," says retired Army Lt. Gen. Clarence E. McKnight, now chairman of the board of the emerging Community Learning and Information Network (CLIN), a publicprivate partnership based in Washington, D.C. To reduce time spent for training and to 2

3 provide instruction that could be useful in Guard members' civilian as well as military roles, the Guard will employ the technology-based CLIN when feasible to deliver highquality education and skills training across great distances to Guard and Reserve members. The CLIN training system was conceived in 1992 by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Federal funding totaling $7.5 million for 1996 was appropriated by Congress for construction of nine prototype CLIN training sites, in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Funding for CLIN projects for $40 million--will pay for at least one site in all 50 states. The military's goal is to have a CLIN site within 60 minutes' driving time for each Guard and Reserve member by the end of the decade. CLIN sites, most of them in National Guard armories, consist of one or two rooms equipped for instruction through videoconferences and computer programs. The content is delivered via a high capacity multimedia network. The software used to teach the courses initially will consist of about 300 programs on everyday subjects ranging from bookkeeping to foreign languages. When they're not in use by military personnel, CLIN sites will be available for use by civilians--including public-school students and small-company employees. Fees will be determined by the developers of individual training programs. "Everything we do today--in civilian life as well as in the military--requires problemsolving skills and the ability to use technology," says McKnight. "The public-education system just is not producing young people with the knowledge and skills that are needed to succeed in this information age." Consequently, the military and employers have a common goal of improving skill levels. And cooperative efforts to achieve that goal can benefit both, McKnight says. Underscoring the importance of such efforts is the most comprehensive analysis yet of mathematics and science achievement by junior-high students worldwide. Results of the study, done by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement and released last fall, show U.S. students slightly below average in math and just above average in science. In the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, covering 41 nations, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and the Czech Republic were at the top in both categories. Near the middle with the U.S. were other Western industrial nations, including Canada, England, Germany, and France. Raising the levels of math and science skills is the ultimate goal of CLIN, McKnight says. It's a goal that, if met, could be of great benefit to business owners. In peacetime as well as wartime, employees who have been ordered to report for training or active duty by their National Guard or Reserve units and who have met certain minimal reporting requirements upon their release from military service must be reinstated as employees by their private- or public-sector employers. 3

4 Under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994, returning employees are entitled to be rehired promptly at the level of job seniority, pay, and other benefits they would have attained if their employment had not been interrupted. Business owners are not required, however, to provide returning employees with precisely the positions they held when they left for military service. The law also requires that workers returning from military service be given job training or retraining if required. And it requires business owners to make "reasonable efforts" to accommodate returning employees who have incurred or aggravated temporary or permanent disabilities during their military service. The statute entitles employees fulfilling Guard or Reserve duties to up to 30 days of health-insurance coverage during their military service at the same premiums available to other employees. Beyond 30 days, an employer can charge employees on military leave who desire medical coverage up to 102 percent of the total premium paid by the employer and a comparable on-the-job employee. The statute prohibits firing--except for cause--employees returning from Guard or Reserve service. The prohibition covers 180 days of re-employment following military service of up to 180 days and one year following service of longer duration. The law also provides that "an employer may not discriminate in employment against... any person because such person has taken an action to enforce a protection afforded" under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act. If such discrimination is alleged, the burden of proof is on the accused employer. In return for these protections, which apply to up to five years of cumulative military service per job, employees generally are required by federal law to meet certain requirements. Among other things, they must: * Notify their employer, orally or in writing, as far in advance as possible before commencing Guard or Reserve service. * Be released from military service under conditions other than dishonorable. * Report back to their place of employment as soon as reasonably possible. * Produce upon request--following service of 31 days or longer--documentation establishing the length and nature of their military service and the timeliness of their return to work. Though release of employees from work duties to participate in military training or other activities is required under federal and some state laws, the application of those laws to individual employment situations is not always clear-cut. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve--4,000 civilian volunteers supported by a small military staff who conduct information and employeremployee assistance programs--maintains a toll-free telephone number weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time. Operators at the number, , can answer questions on legal requirements and specific employment practices. 4

5 COPYRIGHT 1997 U.S. Chamber of Commerce COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group Albert G. Holzinger "When workers are good soldiers - employees in the National Guard or Reserve - includes related article about employer and employee responsibilities". Nation's Business. Feb FindArticles.com. 11 Mar