SwiftVets.com

[Mac McBride]

Will Nov. 11 be a happy Veterans Day for our brothers and sisters who are unemployed and seeking work?

I don't know the answer to that but my guess is no. Perhaps it was because of the election of William Clinton, or maybe it's because of the youth and inexperience of many of the human resource personnel today.

But the fact of the matter is that many have forgotten their obligations under the Vietnam-Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 and the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998. Any entity which receives more than $25,000 annually in federal funds must affirmatively reach out to recruit, interview, hire, train and promote all Vietnam-era veterans and other veterans covered by the act (Bosnia, Haiti, Somalia, Lebanon, Iraq I & II, Afghanistan, etc.) , and be able to show documented proof of those efforts (VETS-100) when required.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/cfr/41cfr/toc_Chapt60/60_250.htm

60-250.6 - Affirmative action policy, practices and procedures.
Standard Number: 60-250.6
Standard Title: Affirmative action policy, practices and procedures.
SubPart Number: A
SubPart Title: Preliminary Matters, Affirmative Action Clause,
Compliance

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(a) General requirements. Under the affirmative action obligation imposed by the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, contractors are required to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified disabled veterans and veterans of the Vietnam era at all levels of employment, including the executive level. Such action shall apply to all employment practices, including, but not limited to, the following: hiring, upgrading, demotion or transfer, recruitment or recruitment advertising, layoff or termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation, and selection for training, including apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs under 38 U.S.C. 1787.

I turn 50 shortly. I have a job now. It's not the best job but it pays the bills and I'm satisfied with it. While I have no health benefits, I'm not missing any meals. But about 18 months ago I didn't have a job. I was 48, with no savings and scared to death I was going to end up in a Kelvinator box under the interstate despite the fact that I have two masters degrees and a bachelors degree.

The company I had worked for went out of business. And my own efforts at entrepreneurship had failed before that emptying what funds I had and destroying my credit. (I had thought that being a veteran-owned small business would help. Nope.)

While I was looking for work, I remembered that a particular law existed and that I, as a Vietnam-era veteran, was supposed to have some kind of assistance finding work. I couldn't find information on the law. (I have now and it's posted above.) I contacted my local VFW and my local labor office. They knew nothing about the law. My local VFW suggested I call the main VFW office in Washington, D.C. My call was returned by one fellow who told me the law is no longer valid, that it was subjected to sunset provisions.

Well, I'm telling you that's false. But it's what people believe that matters. And if you look in the help wanted advertisements, you might see Help Wanted M/F/D ... but what you won't find is Help Wanted M/F/D/V..

This particular law says that any organization receiving funds has to actively recruit and promote vets and provide veteran information on a VETS 100 form for anyone asking. I had applied for a job at Louisiana State University, a job that I will tell you I was very qualified for, and I wasn't even interviewed. I noted on my resume that I was a Vietnam-era veteran. It doesn't matter with those currently making the decisions at Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's "Olde War Skule" because the one's making the hiring decisions now are, in a great many cases, the ones who went to Canada or to Oxford, England instead of joining the service, or were born after Vietnam and never were told these laws exist. Maybe they extracted it from the Society of Human Resources Managers handbook. Maybe that's the Sunset. I don't know.

But I'll tell you that an organization can't legitimately provide a VETS 100 form if it doesn't collect the information, and none of the entities I applied to collected this information although I know they receive federal funds and are the recipient of federal contracts. I received a form from LSU asking my race, sex, and whether I was disabled. But nowhere on that form was any there question regarding military service.

One particular company I applied to, the Blood Center, used a form application put together by some lawyers out of Florida that specifically stated not to include ANY information on veteran status, because they didn't want to discriminate against non-veteran status. I kid you not. As it was a form application I have no doubt that application is in use all over the country. I no longer donate blood there.

Now President Clinton may have expanded this law to include our brothers and sisters who served honorably in Haiti, Panama, Somalia, Bosnia, etc., but the law has no teeth and is not being honored. The people receiving the billions in federal contracts are burning veterans, and they know it.

So, I've said my peace. The Swift Vets and POWs for Truth have done an excellent job. They've done their duty and it's probably unfair for me to ask them to take up another cause. But this is a just and honorable cause, not just for the aging veterans of Vietnam and the Vietnam-era, but also the veterans of other conflicts and the men and women serving today. This law is needed now more than ever. There should NEVER be an unemployed veteran who wants to work. But there is. And it's time for action.

Thank you for reading this.