Panel backs annual reports on disabled veteran employment complaints

Moving through an agenda of four bills on Friday, the House Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee approved a bill requiring the Labor Department to issue a report on employment complaints by veterans with combat-related disabilities.

The bill (H.R. 1632) sailed through the subcommittee, being approved by voice vote. Sponsored by Rep. Dave Reichert, Wash., the bill requires the secretary of Labor to issue a yearly report to Congress containing data on complaints filed by reservists and National Guard members on reemployment issues.

The bill would also require the secretary to share the data with the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, and the attorney general. The agencies would come up with a uniform system of collecting complaints. The report would specifically track re-employment difficulties among veterans who have combat-related disabilities.

Currently, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act ensures that veterans returning from active duty be restored to their original jobs with the same seniority and benefits. According to Reichert, from fiscal 2004-fiscal 2006, the departments of Labor and Defense addressed nearly 16,000 complaints, but because of poor information sharing between the two departments, only a very small percentage of complaints were reported to Congress.

"This lack of information sharing and coordination prevents Congress from receiving the complete, accurate picture of Reservists' hiring difficulties that we need in order to best address them," Reichert said in testimony during a House Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee hearing earlier this year.

The subcommittee adopted an amendment to the bill, offered by Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y. Hall's amendment increased the number of members of the Advisory Committee on Veterans Employment, Training and Employer Outreach from 15 to 16, with the additional member being from the National Governors Association.