Reservist Faces Bias Over Job

I was only a child during the Vietnam War, so I was unaware of the troubles veterans had when they returned. Now my husband, who is a Navy reservist who was called to serve his country, is now experiencing a small portion of the discrimination those of the Vietnam era had to go through. (And I do understand that it is truly just a small portion!)

His employers (he worked as a chef-kitchen manager in a restaurant in the Channel Islands Harbor) conveniently eliminated his position one month before his return. They agreed to hire him back as a cook, but refused to pay his old salary, or seniority in scheduling. They were aware the law states they had to reinstate him at like seniority and like pay, but they felt that he would not push the issue.

It took the threat of having the Veterans Administration represent him in filing a grievance with the labor board to persuade his employers to do that was right. Now, however, they are refusing to pay overtime--yet feel justified in deducting an hourly rate when he serves his one weekend a month in the reserves.

The bottom line is, we will have a long fight ahead of us, and for what? A job that the owners told my husband would never have been eliminated, had he not been recalled to active duty. How sad. You see, not everyone is patriotic and supportive of our troops.

GERI MOLITOR

Oxnard