Disabled Veterans Post War Employment Problems Understated Warns Government

As more members of the military come home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon and other government agencies are coming up short in identifying their post-military employment difficulties, especially if they are disabled.
Michael Roston

A report out on Thursday from the Government Accountability Office warns that the federal government is "understating" the complaints of disabled veterans. It is also doing a poor job of reporting to Congress on the complaints of veterans more generally.

The GAO published a report yesterday looking at the scope of the implementation of various activities to support reservists in the workforce. The report looks at the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994, which gives reservists the right to be fairly and promptly re-employed upon return from deployment, and is implemented by four federal agencies, including the Pentagon and the Labor Department. These agencies hear and act on USERRA complaints.

Disabled veterans are having the greatest potential difficulty in filing such complaints…

The government auditor warns that the four federal agencies "cannot systematically record and track disability-related employment complaints. In essence, these agencies do not record disability-related complaints using consistent and compatible complaint categories or distinguish disability-related complaints from other types of complaints for tracking and reporting purposes."

GAO therefore found that "the nearly 200 disability-related USERRA claims…may be understated." As a result, the Pentagon "may not be completely aware of the effect that disabilities incurred by reservists while on active duty have on their reemployment, and what additional assistance may be needed to help transition this population back into the workforce."

The Congressional investigative arm also found that the Labor Department is failing to report to Congress, on an annual basis, on 80% of the complaints filed under the USERRA more broadly – only 2,446 of the 12,421 complaints are included in the annual report. The outcome is that "Congress has limited visibility over the full range of USERRA issues that reservists face following deployment."

Also, GAO says that "Congress may lack the information for its oversight of reserve employment matters needed to take actions that may be necessary to more effectively implement USERRA."

Additionally, the different federal agencies are not using the same categories to distinguish among different kinds of USERRA complaints. As a result, it is difficult to "identify complete trends on the nature of reservists' USERRA complaints…As reservists continue to demobilize and the possibility of a USERRA complaint exists, this trend information on USERRA issues may assist Congress and DOD in making informed decisions."

The GAO's report comes on the heels of growing concern that the Department of Veterans Affairs is not responding well to post-conflict stress of US service members. McClatchy Newspapers reported yesterday that "even by its own measures, the VA isn't prepared to give returning veterans the care that could best help them overcome destructive, and sometimes fatal, mental health ailments." The Department of Veterans Affairs is not involved in USERRA claims.

The full report can be downloaded at the GAO's website.

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