My name is Bill Valenzuela. I am Arizona state chairman for ESGR (the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve), under the Secretary of Defense, and I am currently serving my 18th year with ESGR.
I am one of 4,700 volunteers serving nationwide and in Arizona, we have 64 volunteers.
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The committee's goals include support for those serving in the Guard and Reserves by making all citizens aware of the functions and importance of the Guard and Reserves in protecting the security of our nation. It is important that they are properly trained and ready to deploy around the world.
Many people you employ or work with have volunteered to be a critical link in our national military strategy, but they need the most critical part of the puzzleand that is the employers of our nation.
Without their support, this strategy won't work. We probably would have to go back to the draft. That means our children, boys and girls being drafted.
Tucson is blessed with so many patriotic employers. First off, we have Jim Click, who will service the families' car for anybody who has been mobilized to defend our country. All they have to do is present their orders.
He will service their auto for free, even if the auto was not purchased through a Jim Click dealership, as long as his shop can service their make of vehicle.
Jim Pignatelli with Tucson Electric Power Co. will help families that have the head of the household deployed serving our country. He works out a payback plan with them, but TEP never cut off their service.
Home Depot will send somebody out to do small repairs around the house.
I could fill five pages of persons, corporations and companies that are willing to help our Guard and Reserves.
Keep in mind that most of these persons that are mobilized take a cut in their regular paythat hurts.
What we really need is for everybody to support the families of the loved ones that are deployed and are under harms way.
Even with the best of communications and partnerships between employers and employees who are members of the Guard and Reserve, questions and concerns do arise related to adverse consequences of military service. How should you handle them?
First, try to work it out with your employee. If it cannot be worked out you can go to the ESGR website (www.esgr.org) to the Committee Contacts section, or call Bill Valenzuela at (520)887-5652 for information. We have a national and a local Ombudsman Committee that provides information, counseling and informal mediation of issues relating to compliance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
USERRA is a federal law for the protection of reemployment rights of mobilized Guard and Reserve members. ESGR is not an enforcement agency and does not offer legal counsel or advice. Most of the requests for assistance are resolved in this informal process without requiring referral to the Department of Labor for formal investigation.
Bill Valenzuela is the owner of W.G. Valenzuela Drywall Inc., which has operated in business in Tucson since 1979.
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