Reservist fighting deployment loses his job

[UpInArms]

http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=2742702

NESCOPECK, Pa. A Berwick man who's a member of the Army's inactive ready reserve has been laid off.

Jason Wall is scheduled to be deployed next week. He has been pursuing a hardship deferment since August, saying he needs to care for his injured wife and 4-year-old daughter.Wall says he trained another man earlier this month to work his water delivery route. He said his supervisor told him Monday that he would be laid off immediately, and the man he had trained took over his job.A military lawyer says it's illegal to lay off a worker just because he may be deployed soon.Wall says his boss at Matthews Fuel Service of Nescopeck told him the layoff wasn't due to the deployment. But Wall says the other man would never had been hired if not for the Army calling him up.

...very short newsblurb...

[mhr]

1. The Company Must Figure His Ride To Iraq Is A One-Way Ticket

Thanks to Bush it probably is.

[rpannier]

2. Appalling that they'd do that n/t

[LizW]

3. This happened to my friend's husband, too

He is a reservist, and his employer fired him before he was actually called up.

[Nikepallas]

4. I am sorry for both of those guys but I hate to say it will be the first

of many such stories.

[Ian David]

5. Let them know what you think

Matthews Fuel Service, Inc.
David E. Matthews
P. O. Box 87 727 Harter Avenue
Nescopeck, PA 18635-0087
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

http://pa.allpages.com/nescopeck/industry/fuel/

[ohioliberal]

7. Thanks for the address

I'm going to fax him a nasty letter now.

[demnan]

6. I bet his boss has a "Support our troops"

bumpersticker on his SUV.

[AllegroRondo]

8. Its illegal but difficult to prove

especially in "at will" employment states.

[KingChicken]

9. This is what they asked for, when you invite war, you invite hardship...

If people don't like it then they need to grab a sign or some addresses and make some noise. Hardship is part of war, if you support the war then you must accept the blowback, otherwise you must protest, silence is not an option.

[Bandit]

10. The government makes it very difficult for an employer in cases like this

They demand you hold the job for when the employee returns which could be over a year. In a small company where every position is critical that is very much a hardship. You can hire a temporary replacement but must fire them when the first guy returns and that is not fair either. Because of this as an employer I would never hire a National Guardsman or Reservist. Sucks doesn't it? Bush* has made it that way and I know I am not alone with that sentiment. One more reason for everyone to rush right out and join the Guard. Good for the resume.