HR0096 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0096 LRB095 06754 DRJ 27672 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, In the last 5 years, according to a United States Department of Labor report presented to Congress in 2005, 5,690 veterans have lost their jobs in both the private and the public employment sectors while activated to serve a tour of duty; those numbers are expected to increase because, of the 300,000 deployed reservists, as many as 25,000 veterans were expected to return home in 2005 to reintegrate themselves back into civilian life after a tour of duty in the global war against terrorism; and

WHEREAS, Employment discrimination against veterans based on the extended lengths of time for which they have been deployed has been reported in Illinois as well as throughout the United States; and

WHEREAS, Incidents of discrimination have included loss of yearly pay raises, loss of position within the workplace, and loss of employment altogether; and

WHEREAS, Federal law already prohibits the loss of status or position for returning members of the military under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA); the Act protects service members' reemployment rights when they return from a period of service in the uniformed services, including the rights of those who are called up from the reserves or the National Guard, and prohibits discrimination by employers based on military service or obligation; the Act is administered by the United States Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs (i) to inform employers of members of the armed forces who are called to active duty of the employment rights of those service members as veterans upon their return from active duty and (ii) to inform those employers of the consequences of not following the law in regard to the employment rights of returning veterans.