One third of Maine’s part-time military were called to active

duty since 9-11-01.
By Daniel Hartill
Staff Writer

Most of Maine’s 6,000 guard members and reservists know they have the right to return to their jobs if called to active duty service. That right goes deeper, though.

“It isn’t just going back to work,” U.S. Department of Labor expert Jon Guay told a room full of Marine reservists on Tuesday. “There’s a lot that goes with it. The key here is to make you whole.”

Essentially, they make sure that soldiers are not penalized at their workplaces for time spent in active duty.

“For you, the clock didn’t stop when you left,” Guay told the Marines, who are scheduled to end one year of active duty service on Jan. 15.

Your co-workers all got bonuses while you were away? You get one, too, Guay said.

Your company automatically promoted senior workers, and you would have been one? Congratulations, he said. You also get promoted.

It’s a message which Guay, the director of the Veterans Employment and Training Service, has been spreading ever since Sept. 11, 2001. He has briefed all 2,000 Mainers who have been called to active duty service since the tragedy.

His office has logged more than 500 calls since then, some from employers and many from worried soldiers, sailors and Marines.

After members of the Maine Army National Guard in Lewiston and Norway recieved their orders last month to prepare for duty in the Middle East, Guay spoke with those men and women. Before he briefed them with his prepared presentation, they asked questions for more than an hour and a half.

“It’s been like that everywhere I go,” said Guay, who lives in Lewiston. His son, Ryan, was among the Marines who gathered Tuesday. He plans to return to his job as a Lewiston police officer.

The rules that held his job secure have been around since World War II and carry the full weight of federal law. There are limits, though.

Workers have to give timely notice to employers before they leave for service. Discharges must be honorable. Also, self-employed people have no such help.

“I’m sorry,” said Guay. “There’s no protection for you folks.”

The military, the Labor Department and other groups are all working to spread information about the rights, both to employees and their employers.

A volunteer group called Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve has created a database of Maine employers, gathering the details from everyone who has been called to active duty. Each one receives a packet of information about the laws.

Often, employers work to go beyond the requirements, said Stephen Hatt, the executive director of the group’s Maine Committee.

Some have inquired about their employee’s military pay, aiming to make up the difference between their civilian and military salaries. Others just want to help.

“There has been a level of patriotism that’s bigger than it was in the first Gulf War,” Hatt said.

Not all employers surrender to the law, though.

Guay, who is charged with enforcing the rules in Maine, said he currently has cases against nine employers here. In most of them, employees have been fired under murky conditions, he said. Bosses argue that workers were let go because they did their jobs poorly. The timing can be suspicious, though.

Most often, employers simply don’t know the rules. Sometimes, they need only to see what their employees are doing for the importance to hit home, he said.

dhartill@sunjournal.com

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