In 2002, William Etter, a Brigadier General with the 134th Fighter Squadron of the Vermont Air National Guard, became one of the first reservists called up as part of the so-called War on Terror. For Etter, it meant hanging up his wings–at least in terms of his schedule with his full-time employer, Delta Air Lines Inc., where he has worked as a pilot for the past 19 years.
For Delta, it would mark the beginning of a period in which its pilot roster would be seriously challenged by the ever increasing demands of the Pentagon for fliers in Iraq and elsewhere. Over the past four years, Delta has been losing between 150 and 200 full-time pilots annually to some period of military service. "We've had to add 90 to 100 extra pilots to our roster, at a cost last year of $13 million, to be able to handle all the active-duty call-ups of our pilots," says Steve Dickson, director of flight operations at Delta. Despite the financial stress that the company and its industry have endured since 9/11 and the run-up in the cost of fuel oil, Delta was more than willing to accept the challenge–explaining why the Pentagon recently awarded Delta a Five-Star Employer Award for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.
There are currently more than 100,000 Guard and Reserve troops on active duty, a number that has been as high as 160,000. Almost all of them have full-time employers who, by law, must accommodate the absence. The pressure on employers has been particularly intense in recent years, given that active-duty U.S. troop strength is much lower than in prior periods of international conflict. This has forced the Pentagon to rely to an unprecedented extent upon Reserve and National Guard units to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and in homeland security efforts.
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While there are cases of employers attempting to avoid the responsibility, there are notable instances of employers, like Delta, going above and beyond. American Express Co., for example, which currently has 80 of its 30,000 employees serving on active duty, as a matter of company policy continues those employees' salaries, family health benefits and pension contributions, and allows those serving the country to continue to accrue seniority for the months they are on active duty on a one-for-one basis. "The general public thinks what we're doing is great," says American Express spokeswoman Bette Franzone, "and our employees who are called up are very, very appreciative, knowing that everything is status quo while they are gone."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has also been singled out by the Pentagon as a model employer, reportedly sends a company car to ferry active-duty employees to and from the airport when they get leave time. The discount store chain also "tops up" its called-up employees' military salaries to match their Wal-Mart pay. While Delta doesn't continue to pay its active-duty pilots, the company does use their average monthly flying time to calculate the company's contribution to their pensions. As with most employers, Delta lets most of its active duty pilots switch over to the military's health coverage plan, rather than continuing their and their families' coverage through the company. "I'd say most companies step up to the plate and do their political part without complaint, though we've seen a steady increase in the number of cases brought to us for resolution," says Maj. Robert Palmer, a spokesman for the Pentagon's National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve that oversees employer compliance.
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Under U.S. law, it is illegal for an employer to fire or demote an employee who has been called to active duty. An exception is if a company has a layoff or restructuring and can demonstrate that an employee would have lost the job had she or he not been called up. According to National Committee statistics, there were 1,201 illegal terminations and layoffs of returning troops in 2002, and 1,635 in 2003. While some 95% of these disputes are resolved through conflict resolution services, some do make it to court. Last year, Agilent Technologies Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based high-tech firm, ran into trouble when it laid off Lt. Col. Steve Duarte, who had worked for the company for 19 years before being called up by his Marine Reserve unit for two tours of active duty. During his time in the Middle East, Agilent made up the difference between Duarte's military pay and his $88,000 company salary and continued to pay his family health benefits. But when Duarte finally returned from Kuwait, he was told he was being let go. Duarte sued. In court, the company claimed that it had needed to "restructure," but the company's argument was weakened, according to published reports, when evidence was presented that the company had advertised for a replacement for Duarte's position. A federal court awarded Duarte $498,261 in back and future pay plus interest, as well as attorneys' fees and court costs.
Delta's Dickson says that while the legislation regulating employers on military service responsibilities "is not easy to fit with a pilot's job," Delta has taken the position of "trying to err on the side of the broadest interpretation of the law's requirements." He adds that the airline established a military liaison board to deal with policy issues as they arise.
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