Guard-ing their jobs

By Trent Moore
The Cullman Times

May 01, 2008 08:03 pm

— When Cullman County Chief Deputy Tony Quick spent 16 months away from his home and family serving in Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom, he said he took solace in knowing that his job at the sheriff’s office would still be waiting for him when he eventually returned.
Quick served with the Army National Guard in signal communications as a Sergeant First Class, and was in Iraq from the end of 2003 until the start of 2005.
“I’m sure we all feel that we can be replaced,” Quick said. “It’s a good feeling to know your job is going to be there waiting for you when you get back from serving your country.”
For Quick, his employer and co-workers went above and beyond in supporting him while he was overseas, he said.
“They’d send supplies and things like that to me, and I really appreciated it,” he said. “The sheriff and everyone here was really supportive of me while I was serving.”
Quick’s job, along with the civilian employment of around 160 other Cullman residents who serve in the National Guard, is kept safe by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), which was passed in 1994 to replace the Veterans’ Reemployment Rights (VRR) law of 1940.
The purpose of USERRA is to protect the civilian re-employment rights of soldiers returning from military service and to also prohibit employer discrimination because of military service or obligation.
More than 60 Cullman employers adhere to the USERRA and employ local servicemembers, including the city and county police departments, the Cullman Electric Cooperative, Lowes, REHAU Incorporated and many more.
“We have had several employees who served in the regular guard and reserves,” said Cullman Co-Op Vice President of Human Resources Gail Neal.
Neil said that the Cullman Co-Op is proud to work with their servicemember employees.
“For many years Cullman Electric Cooperative has supported our employees who volunteered for military service through the National Guard and various Reserve programs,” Neal said. “We fully recognize, honor and enforce the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act ... and we will continually recognize and support our country's service members and their families in peace, in crises and in war.”
Due to the fact that the full employer list is compiled on a voluntary basis, a concise list of current USERRA employers is tough to come by, said Dwayne Smith with the Employer Support of Guard and Reserve (ESGR).
The purpose of the ESGR, a division of the Department of Defense that works with all military reserve components, is to mediate and “provide assistance when an individual is deployed and runs into issues with employers or employees,” Smith said.
In the state of Alabama, problems are fairly rare and almost always quickly solved, Smith said.
“I’d say about 99 percent of the issues we see are easily resolved,” he said. “Most people in Alabama are very supportive of people in the military.”
Quick said laws and programs like the USERRA and ESGR have definitely made a soldier’s life easier.
“I think these things are absolutely great,” he said. “Without them it would make it so hard to serve in the military.”

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