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Returning vets can face new fight

An Inver Grove Heights Reservist went to court after trying to get his job back at the Ford plant in St. Paul

When Army Reservist Mitch Minnaert came marching home to Inver Grove Heights after 15 months of active duty in 2003, all he wanted to do was to go back to work at the Ford plant in St. Paul.

That was easier said than done.

After several wanderings through the company's bureaucratic maze and two more mobilizations as an intelligence officer, he sued the company in federal court, a lawsuit that was settled earlier this year.

Ford wouldn't comment on this case but said it wouldn't violate the law. “I kept ending up between a rock and a hard place, because I could have stayed on active duty, but I needed the benefits Ford had,” said Minnaert, a 22-year military veteran. “The way I was treated, problem after problem – I can't be the first person who's had this.”

He's not, by any means. Last year, a survey by the Government Accountability Office concluded that as many as 8 percent of 119,761 deactivated Reserve members were not promptly rehired by their civilian employers. Fourteen percent lost seniority, seniority-related pay or benefits; and health insurance for about one in 10 wasn't immediately reinstated, the survey found.

Still, it appears the federal government's web of laws and regulations designed to protect the jobs of returning troops has worked the way it was designed far more often than not, both in Minnesota and nationwide.

“Some employers aren't following the law, not out of malice, but to protect the bottom line,” said Harry Sieben, Minnaert's attorney and brigadier general in the Minnesota National Guard. “After 36 years in the military, I've heard about hundreds of these cases and filed dozens of lawsuits.”

Another local case involves about 20 members of the mechanics union at Northwest Airlines who were on military leave serving in Iraq and elsewhere more than two years ago, were given layoff notices and did not get eight weeks of pay that normally accompanies some layoffs.

Local 33 of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) filed grievances on those members' behalf, but those grievances have not yet been resolved, a union spokesman said.

Dennis Schulstad, who leads the volunteer effort to help Reservists and Minnesota National Guard members with their employment problems, said they crop up most often because of employers ignorance about the law's requirements. “Occasionally, yes, people do fall through the cracks,” he said. “This thing is not perfect, but I think the system is working very well.”

In 1994, Congress enacted the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act in the wake of the Gulf War, requiring that employers reinstate returning soldiers to positions equivalent to those they left, while protecting seniority, raises and benefits they would have had while on duty.

More than 6,000 complaint cases were opened by the U.S. Department of Labor between Sept. 11, 2001, and April of this year, the department reported. Minnesota cases during that period have totaled 119.

Those cases can be resolved informally or can ultimately be pursued in federal court by the Justice Department. On average, that has occurred only a few dozen times annually nationwide, according to the Accountability Office.

A veteran's first stop for help is often with the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency staffed by volunteers in every state. Minnesota's branch has 10 ombudsmen who conduct informal mediations between employees and their bosses.

James Thune, the program's state staff coordinator, said that its track record in Minnesota is comparable with nationwide patterns, showing that more than 95 percent of the cases it handles are resolved informally.

First suit was settled in 1999

In the case of Minnaert, 42, that didn't happen. He joined the Army in 1984. After he finished a nine-month hitch in Bosnia in 1997, he showed up at the firm where he worked as a security guard and was told the job was no longer his.

“I returned safe and in one piece and they refused to reemploy me,” he said. He tried government channels, went to Sieben, sued and in 1999 reached an undisclosed settlement.

He began working on the assembly line at Ford's Highland Park factory, primarily, he said, because of the benefits. “I could always go back on active duty, but the benefits aren't as good as they are at Ford,” he said.

When he was called to active duty about two months after 9/11, Minnaert said, he tried to make sure all of his Ford paperwork was in order.

“When I came off orders in February of '03, I called them and they said to be here at 3 p.m. Monday so I could start my shift at 5.”

But Ford didn't hire him back, and it became temporarily moot when he was reactivated in April 2003. “When that ended, I got a phone call from Ford and they agreed to hire me back,” Minnaert said. “But my life insurance was cut down, pay raises I should have gotten didn't come in.”

In May 2004, Minnaert was deployed to Iraq. While he was gone, Sieben went back to U.S. District Court in Minneapolis and sued Ford. The case was settled in January with a sealed agreement.

Ford officials won't comment directly on the case, citing privacy policies. In a statement, company spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes said Ford “appreciates the commitment of the men and women serving in the armed forces and would not violate the statute.”

Said Sieben: “Some people in the Guard and Reserve aren't getting what they're entitled to.… “I'm sure it's a small percentage of cases, but it's 100 for someone in Mitch's situation.”

And Minnaert isn't sure his travels are over. He has been reactivated again. “Because I won't be on the payroll, I'm worried I won't be eligible for the buyout” that Ford is offering to its 75,000 union workers in the United States.

Company officials wouldn't comment, but Jim Eagle, chairman of United Auto Workers Local 879, said the union “isn't going to leave our military guys and gals just hanging. We don't know the specifics of the buyout yet.”

Added Sieben: “I'm going to wait and see if I have to sue them again.”

Contact the law offices of Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey for a free consultation. We encourage you to make this first step toward resolving your legal matters so that you can get back to your life.