Military Personnel: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Reserve Employment Issues

DOD Instruction 7730.54, Reserve Components Common Personnel Data System, was updated and published on March 31, 2008. It includes a requirement for reservists at a minimum to update their civilian employment information annually. Additionally, the Department issued a July 22, 2008 memorandum to the services asking for them to update their service instructions, procedures, and implementation plans to track and report civilian employment information at least annually or when the member has a change in employment status. It called for each reserve component to develop, document and implement a formal review mechanism to track and identify members who have not properly updated their civilian employment information. Lastly, the memo established September 30, 2009 as the date for the reserve components to achieve reporting compliance. According to DOD documentation, OASD Reserve Affairs has also made Civilian Employment Information compliance a subject of discussion in many forums with senior leaders of the services. Reserve Affairs in cooperation with Defense Finance and Accounting Service developed pop-up window applications within MY Pay that reminds service members to update their employer information if the data is incomplete or more than one year old. The service member's social security number is checked against the data base for compliance or dated information. From September 10, 2007, to October 31, 2007, over 200,000 pop-up windows have been offered to service members to remind them to update their employer information. As a result of these actions, DOD should have better employer information to manage activities such as conducting outreach to help employers understand their Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) responsibilities or know if its decisions are adversely affecting communities by activating a large number of its first responders or healthcare professionals, or disproportionately impacting small business employers.

DOD Instruction 7730.54, Reserve Components Common Personnel Data System, was updated and published on March 31, 2008. It includes a requirement for reservists to update their civilian employment information annually. As a result, DOD should be in a better position to conduct employer outreach and make decisions regarding reserve member activations.

According to Department of Labor (DOL) documentation, DOL provided DOD's Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) organization with read only access to its Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) information management system in October 2007. This action allows ESGR to view and download aggregate USERRA information, create a standard report and manipulate the data in such fields as open date, closed date, employer, issue, and whether the claimant is a reservist. According to DOD, since being granted access, ESGR personnel have already made use of this information for reporting purposes. As a result, DOD should be able to determine the full extent of USERRA issues that its reservists are facing and be better prepared to perform its responsibilities for overseeing implementation of USERRA.

In February 2007, DOD's Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve and the Department of Labor (DOL) developed a Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) Issue Crosswalk between the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve problem codes and DOL's USERRA Information Management System issue codes. According to agencies representatives, this crosswalk will allow both agencies to match the common issues without revision of its current issue identification codes. According to DOD documentation, the cross walked problem codes are compatible for conducting trend analyses between the agencies. As of November 2007, DOL had the capability to receive DOD's employer support for the guard and reserve problem codes and perform the cross-walk, which would allow them to include aggregate complaint data in its annual USERRA report to Congress. The Department of Labor's annual USERRA report to Congress now includes this crosswalk and related complaints.

In February 2007, DOD's Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve and the Department of Labor (DOL) developed a Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) Issue Crosswalk between the employer support for the guard and reserve problem codes and DOL's USERRA Information Management System issue codes. According to agencies representatives, this crosswalk will allow both agencies to match the common issues without revision of its current issue identification codes. According to DOD documentation, the cross walked problem codes are compatible for conducting trend analyses between the agencies. As of November 2007, DOL had the capability to receive DOD's employer support for the guard and reserve problem codes and perform the cross-walk, which would allow them to include aggregate complaint data in its annual USERRA report to Congress. The Department of Labor's annual USERRA report to Congress now includes this crosswalk and related complaints.

According to October 2007 Department of Labor documentation, its USERRA Information Management System identifies USERRA disability claims, including reasonable accommodation for disabled veterans and since October, 2006, its Solicitor's office, DOD's Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, the Department of Justice, and the Office of Special Counsel all have been granted access to its system. Furthermore, in February 2007, in conjunction with DOD's Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve, the Department of Labor developed a USERRA Issue Crosswalk between the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve problem codes and Labor's USERRA Information Management System issue codes. According to agency representatives, the crosswalk allows agencies to match common issues so they can be consistently and systematically tracked without revision of its current issue identification codes. The crosswalk included disability-related complaints under the reemployment/reinstatement section. As a result, Congress and DOD will be better informed about the actual number of disability-related reemployment complaints and the effect that disabilities incurred by reservists while on active duty have on their reemployment and what additional assistance may be needed to help transition this population back into the workforce.