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Prison guards: Jobs denied due to Afghan duty

By Wilson Ring - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 20, 2009 18:10:14 EDT

MONTPELIER, Vt. — At least three temporary correctional officers at the state prison in Springfield say they were denied promotions to permanent jobs because of their pending deployment to Afghanistan with the Vermont National Guard.

One of the officers plans to sue the Vermont Department of Corrections for allegedly violating a federal law that protects the civilian jobs of service members called to active duty.

“As soon as I gave my employer, the Vermont Department of Corrections, my letter from [Guard commander] Col. [Will] Roy, that said we would be doing extra training, that’s when everything really went downhill,” said Dan Brown, 32, of Stockbridge, who said he was later fired with no explanation.

Brown is planning to file a federal lawsuit against the department later this week, said his lawyer, Jim Levins of Rutland.

“I think the Department of Corrections violated the law,” Levins said Monday. “He was told by a supervisor ‘Why should we keep you when we know you are going to be deployed in eight months?’ From the information we have, they failed to promote him and retain him based upon an improper consideration.”

Vermont Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito said Monday that he has ordered staff at the Southern State Correctional Facility to investigate the complaints. He said that three weeks ago a deploying guardsman was offered a permanent job.

He couldn’t give a percentage, but Pallito said it was common that temporary correctional officers didn’t advance to full-time jobs.

“In the case of some of these officers that we’ve let go there have been substantial performance issues. I know that as a fact,” Pallito said. Of the guardsmen, he said: “I suspect there are performance issues connected to each one.”

If the allegations are substantiated, the employees responsible could be disciplined, Pallito said. The investigation will take several weeks.

Uner the federal Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, workers’ jobs are protected in most cases when they are called to active military duty.

Curtis Bell, a Defense Department employee who helps mediate conflicts between service members and civilian employers, said the federal agency is involved in between 2,000 and 3,000 cases a year.

“On the whole it’s not a major issue, but it’s a major issue for the individuals who are going through things.”

Brown and at least two other guard members were hired as correctional officers in Springfield within the last year on the understanding that if they performed well they could advance to become permanent employees with benefits as permanent positions became available.

Pallito said not all correctional officers are first hired as temporary workers, but the practice is common.

All the men are members of the Vermont National Guard and were formally notified last month that they would be called to active duty and sent to Afghanistan early next year.

Vermont National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Lloyd Goodrow, who also is involved in service members’ civilian employment issues, said he couldn’t discuss the Springfield cases.

The law “doesn’t offer protection to temps unless there is a documented expectation that that the temporary employment will lead to full-time employment,” Goodrow said.

http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_job_denied_072009/