LeRoy Frahm Ombudsman Director Wisconsin ESGR
Among our Patriotic Holidays are Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and they are often mixed up with each other!
On Memorial Day, we remember the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice serving our country!
On Veterans Day we remember the many men and women living who have served our country faithfully!
Often when we think of our Armed Forces, we think of people serving on Active Duty.
But we too easily forget or often overlook today the men and women in our All-Volunteer Force serving in the National Guard and Reserves, living and working in our communities thoroughout our state!
Our National Defense cannot function without the Guard and Reserve! Today, nearly half of our Nation’s military strength resides in our Guard and Reserve! In fact, some missions are performed totally by a Guard and Reserve Unit. There is no Active-Duty equivalent! While we choose where to live, where to work, where to shop, where to worship, a few, less than 1% of the men and women in this country choose to serve and carry the burden of securing our freedom.
Less than 1 in 5 today are eligible to serve, due to over-weight, obesity, drug use, physical or mental issues, or criminal history. We must choose to support our men and women in uniform, whether at work or theu are a neighbor down the street.
Today’s employers are strategic partners in our National Defense. Their active support of their Guard and Reserve employees is critical to the success of maintaining the strength and mission readiness of our nation!
We are fortunate to have some really great employers here in the Fox Valley and Wisconsin who go above the law with their military leave and benefits policies and culture, but sadly we have employers who do not! Some employers, HR, or supervisors actually discriminate against their Guard or Reserve employee(s) in their employment.
Why? Are they unaware of the law, don’t they care, or is it something else? You may say you are patriotic, but do you have an employee handbook at work that is supportive of the men and women who wear the uniform of our country, or do we privately discriminate, with unsupportive policies, against these people who volunteer to serve our country faithfully?
One of Wisconsin’s great employers said, “we believe that the cost of liberty cannot be borne by our service members, and families alone, and that all of us must help carry the burden.”
So few choose to volunteer to serve our country, it is extremely important to really support the men and women who do choose to serve in the National Guard and Reserves.
Wisconsin Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve is here to help, as the premier resource to employers on USERRA!
What are you waiting for?
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