Photo By Staff Sgt. Pablo Pantoja | The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) southeast office joined members...... read more read more
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) southeast office joined members of Puerto Rico’s ESGR volunteer committee and program support specialists, in an exchange of ideas about the best practices in volunteer operations during a meeting held at the Puerto Rico National Guard (PRNG) Headquarters in Old San Juan, Nov. 19, 2014.
Master Sgt. Lisa Merrill, the southeast regional deputy director for ESGR, and Frank Huff, a program support specialist in Louisiana, shared the importance of time management and training with the volunteers who attended the meeting.
“We’re here to offer some cross training with the best practices used in the Southeast Region,” said Merrill, “hoping volunteers take the information and promote ESGR and also account for their volunteer hours.”
For Huff, visiting these volunteers creates an opportunity to talk about his experiences and affirm the value that the volunteer committee brings to the overall mission.
“I’m here to share the volunteer experience with the volunteers of Puerto Rico ESGR,” said Huff, “their service as volunteers brings great value.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Jose Padilla, training director for the volunteer committee who is also an active member of the Puerto Rico Army National Guard, plans training time and travel for the volunteers. Padilla emphasized the importance of receiving the most current information related to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), which is the federal law in which ESGR functions.
“If you don’t offer orientation to the soldier (sic) and the employer about the USERRA law, they could be discriminated, we don’t want it to reach that point,” said Padilla at the meeting.
If a service member files a discrimination complaint, they are assigned an ombudsman. The ombudsman, as a volunteer, then represents the service member to an employer and discusses the terms of USERRA.
Ruben Sanchez Burgos, ombudsman director for the volunteer committee in Puerto Rico, believes that a balance between civilian and military interests should exist.
“If a balance doesn’t exist, the [service members] lose their jobs and in the long run employers will lose faith in the armed forces,” said Sanchez.
Pedro De Jesus, a volunteer who has served over 20 years in the committee, sees a benefit in meeting locally in order to reduce travel costs.
“I think this is fantastic. I prefer to have someone come here and train us, than for us to travel to take training, and it costs less,” said De Jesus.
New volunteers that join the program express interest in helping because they understand the sacrifices that serving in the armed forces may imply.
“I admire a lot all the members of the armed forces, the sacrifices that they do to defend the nation, and in everything they do in their daily lives,” said Elizabeth Irizary, who just joined the volunteer committee.
“I think its excellent because we are learning how we integrate to the rest of the program at a national level,” said Irizary.
According to Department of Defense estimates, ESGR operates on approximately $12 million nationwide to achieve its mission, integrating volunteers as an essential component for the protections offered to service members under federal law.
“Definitely the best ESGR training opportunity we have had in the last few months. ESGR has room for improvement and this is a great way to start,” said Senior Master Sgt. Joseph Mendez, who is a member of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard and fills a public affairs role as volunteer in the committee.
Volunteers spend much of their time meeting with employers, as well as Guard and Reserve members, to represent, train and educate on the latest additions to the USERRA.
USERRA is a federal law that protects the job rights of individuals who voluntarily or involuntary leave employment positions to serve in the uniformed services and prohibits employers from discriminating against past and present service members and those who are applying to serve.
A total of 483,250 national guardsmen and reservists were informed of their rights and responsibilities while 161,529 employers received the information. The program was able to obtain 54,921 Statements of Support (SoS) from employers and it is expected that it will reach a goal of 60,000 by the end of the year.
Although the number of informed service members is projected to reduce due to force drawdowns, it is expected that the total number of SoS will increase to 60,000 in the next year.
Pentagon directives offer ESGR an organizational structure through 54 committees and a community-based volunteer network of over 4,500 members, committee chairpersons, executive directors, and programs support specialists.
The full-time staff provides committee operation continuity and day-to-day operations in order to maintain active support from employers for national guardsmen and reservists. To accomplish the mission ESGR offers activities such as Bosslift, which brings the employers directly to the training sites to receive a first-hand perspective of the work performed by their employees when they leave work temporarily to fulfill their military obligations.
| Date Taken: | 11.19.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2014 08:24 |
| Story ID: | 148344 |
| Location: | SAN JUAN, PR |
| Web Views: | 133 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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