Guard duty hits workplaces
| • | Hawai'i's Guard prepares for training, Iraq duty |
| • | National Guard activates Rep. Tamayo |
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
More than 2,000 Hawai'i employees reported yesterday for Hawai'i Army National Guard duty, changing workplaces all around the Islands and altering the spending habits of Guard families.
Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act ensures that employees in the Guard or Reserve get: • Voluntary or involuntary leaves of absence. • Return to job seniority with same pay and benefits. • Nondiscrimination in hiring. The USERRA also requires that employers receive: • Advance notice of leaves of absence. • Proof of military duty or copies of orders. • Timely return to work. Source: Hawai'i Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve
Small businesses, many of them with no succession plans, suddenly lost their owners and driving forces yesterday. Larger companies have had to scramble to replace critical employees.
Jobs protected during service
The Guard members come from all segments of Hawai'i's economy: the sugar plantations of Kaua'i, state legislature, Honolulu Police Department, various medical professions and big and small businesses across the Islands.
Economists don't expect a significant effect on Hawai'i's $50 billion economy.
While Guard soldiers from the Neighbor Islands, Guam and American Samoa are now billeted at Schofield Barracks, O'ahu-based soldiers will continue to live at home for a few weeks and commute to their Army service each day. That should reduce the immediate impact on stores they frequent.
By early October all of the Guard soldiers will ship out to Fort Bliss, Texas, for more training and their eventual deployment to Iraq.
Many local businesses made adjustments yesterday to cover for the loss of employees.
Pictures Plus hired four people to take the place of two veteran frame cutters — Spcs. Isaac Tandal and Clint Ka'aiakamanu — who were called up.
Pictures Plus normally only has Tandal, Ka'aiakamanu and two other frame cutters.
"Their combined service of nine years has been challenging to replace, thus the reason for hiring two more frame cutters and two frame joiners to do the level of quality and volume we look for in making Pictures Plus frames," Michael Lacuesta, Pictures Plus' production manager said yesterday.
Kim McGerald plans to trade in the 1996 Ford Ranger and 1994 Ford Explorer she owns with her husband, Sgt. Sean McGerald, because they will no longer need two cars, she said yesterday.
Instead, the McGeralds plan to buy something new so Sean McGerald won't have to worry about car repairs while he's called up.
Sean had just graduated from the University of Hawai'i law school and was temporarily unemployed while waiting for his law career to begin.
Now his Guard pay comes just as the McGeralds were trying to figure out how to cover Sean's student loans.
"This'll be a pay raise for him," said Kim, who teaches computer skills at Sunset Elementary School. "He wasn't working. So now we'll have an income that we didn't have before."
The federal Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act ensures that Guard and Reserve troops get equivalent jobs when they return to work, as well as seniority and promotion opportunities.
But employers are not required to continue paying the salaries of soldiers, who often earn less in the Guard and Reserve. And the Act does not make up for pay cuts they face when they give up their civilian jobs.
City Councilman Charles Djou has introduced a bill that would close the salary gap for city employees called into active service.
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8085.
