Firm Offers Job, Back Pay to Fired Gulf Reservist

Officials at a major aerospace firm apologized Wednesday for firing a local reservist who left his job to serve in the Persian Gulf, and promised to reinstate him with all the back pay and medical benefits that are owed to him.

“We made a mistake. We recognize it, and we intend to rectify it as quickly and fully as possible,” said a statement issued by the New York office of the Loral Corp., which has aerospace plants in Newport Beach and around the country.

Maj. Stephen McConnell and his family were on vacation Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. But the family’s attorney said that although the statement was encouraging, it would not be enough to stave off a wrongful-termination lawsuit alleging that Loral violated state and federal law protecting activated reservists from layoffs.

McConnell, 38, came home last week from nearly nine months in Saudi Arabia with a Bronze Star for his work in resupplying Army units. But he also returned with uncertainty about the status of his job as a subcontracting administrator at Loral Aeronutronic in Newport Beach.

Loral spokesman Elizabeth Allen acknowledged that McConnell had not been paid the difference between his military and company pay since October or received medical coverage under the company’s insurance plan.

His daughter had been bedridden for nearly three months with a back injury, McConnell’s wife, Kim, said.