Wounded Veteran Job Security Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DOGGETT. Thank you very much, Chairman Filner, and thank you Ranking Member Boozman, for the leadership that each of you provides for those who have served our country.

The return of a soldier or sailor to civilian life is a tradition as old as the Republic itself. Just outside this House Chamber in the great rotunda of the Capitol is a portrait of General George Washington resigning his command in the Continental Army at the close of the Revolution.

In his farewell orders to his troops in November of 1783, he praised the brave men, retiring victorious from the field of war to the field of agriculture. He urged his soldiers to participate in ``all the blessings which have been obtained,'' and asked rhetorically, ``In such a Republic, who will exclude them from the rights of Citizens and the fruits of their labor?''

Washington reminded this Congress of its duty to support these new veterans, he said, ``so that the officers and soldiers may expect considerable assistance in recommencing the civil occupations.''

Well, today, more than 34,000 of America's troops have been wounded as a result of their brave service in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Of these men and women, about 8,000 have suffered traumatic brain injuries and another 1,200 have undergone amputation of a limb.

Battlefield injuries like this don't end on the battlefield, and as General Washington long ago confirmed, neither should our commitment to these wounded warriors. When it comes to recovery, the road back to civilian life can be long, and it can be difficult. Complications arise from amputations. They can force a veteran to return repeatedly to the Veterans Administration for medical care; or what begins as a migraine may turn out to be a traumatic brain injury requiring a battery of time-consuming tests.

Even those veterans that live near a veterans facility find it difficult balancing their medical requirements with other demands on their time; and, of course, many veterans live far away and must travel a long distance, like a veteran in Luling, Texas, who must drive back and forth to the VA hospital in Temple in what may take 4 or 5 hours.

But this is not the only long road that some veterans confront. This legislation is the result of problems that some Texas veterans brought to my attention. They said wounded veterans should not be fired after they exhaust their sick and vacation leave to receive care for injuries that a VA doctor says they need that they incurred while defending our country.

I agree. And they said there ought to be a law supporting our veterans, and I felt confident when the Veterans' Affairs Committee and this Congress heard their plea, they would answer, as they have today.

You see, Madam Speaker, some employers have policies limiting the amount of time that an employee can be out on sick leave. An employee that exceeds that limit may be terminated; and as the law is written today, this means an employer can legally terminate a veteran with a service-related disability for receiving the care that he or she so desperately needs.

I stand here today to say that is not good enough. Our veterans should not have to choose between their lives and their livelihoods. No veteran should have to stand in front of their employer after suffering an injury while serving the Red, White and Blue and be told, you have a pink slip. I am sorry, you can't have a job. But the fact is that this has happened, and it has happened to some simple Texas veterans.

In 1994, when the Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act to clarify and strengthen the Veterans Reemployment Rights Statute, its first purpose was to encourage non-career service in the uniformed services by eliminating or minimizing the disadvantages to civilian careers and employment which can result from such service.

Now that we are 15 years down the road, it is time to take decisive action to develop policies that evolve with the changing needs of our troops. That is what the Wounded Veteran Job Security Act that we consider today that I authored seeks to accomplish. It amends existing law to establish a right of veterans who receive treatment for illness, injuries and disabilities incurred or aggravated by uniform service to the United States to be retained by their employers.

I appreciate the support of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Fleet Reserve Association, and the Disabled American Veterans, important organizations representing our veterans who have endorsed this legislation.

This legislation requires employers to retain a person who is absent from work because they are receiving medical treatment for a service-related injury or disability. It grants the servicemembers the same seniority and other rights and benefits that they had prior to receiving treatment, and it seeks to ensure that these servicemembers receive the same rights and benefits as other employers who are on furlough or leave of absence.

Our service men and women selflessly put aside their civilian lives to step into uniform and serve the cause of freedom and stand up for all of us. Today, it is our responsibility to stand up for them.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation to ensure no American veteran ever has to choose between getting well and getting paid.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source