Understanding and Improving Civilian Employer Experiences with Guard and Reserve Duty
Abstract
Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. reserve component (RC) members have served in operational missions worldwide whether abroad in Iraq and Afghanistan or at home helping with the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic response or natural disasters. Duty-related absences from their civilian jobs can create frustration and challenges for both the RC members and their employers. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) protects RC members against employment discrimination and provides them with reemployment rights after a duty-related absence. In a 2013 study, researchers at the RAND Corporation concluded that there was no need for major revisions to USERRA, that its provisions were clear and generally consistent with other employment laws, and that the challenges reported by employers stemmed largely from RC activation and utilization policy as opposed to the laws employment and reemployment protections (Gates et al., 2013a).At the request of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Integration, we update and extend that earlier study in this report to document current views of employers and reevaluate U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) policy, federal legislation, and state legislation protecting National Guard service under state orders. For this study, we integrated the results of a multimethod approach that consisted of a review of research and policy; interviews with subject-matter experts, RC members, and RC employers; analysis of data from the Status of Forces Survey of Reserve Component Members (SOFS-R) and DoD administrative personnel data; and the 2022 DoD National Survey of Employers that we fielded for this study.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 12, 2024
- Accession Number
- AD1225908
Entities
People
- Brian Phillips
- Jonas Kempf
- Laura Werber
- Lucas Greer
- Samantha Cherney
- Susan M. Gates
Organizations
- RAND Corporation