Servicemembers' civilian careers should not be harmed as a result of their military service. In July of last year, the Benefits Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on private sector USERRA compliance looking at how well the law was understood and enforced.

Today's hearing will focus more closely on compliance by the public sector, including local, state and Federal Government agencies. We will hear about some instances where servicemembers had difficulty enforcing their USERRA rights, and we'll examine legislative proposals to further strengthen USERRA.

The committee will also examine the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to determine how well it is protecting the legal and finance rights of our military personnel. This legislation, which I was very proud to sponsor along with my good friend and colleague Lane Evans, was approved by Congress and signed by President Bush last year.

The act, which restated and expanded the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act, is designed to help protect legal and financial rights of U.S. military personnel called to active duty.

Among the most notable new protections added were automatic 90-day stays for civil and administrative proceedings, protections for servicemembers and their families from housing evictions, the right of servicemembers and their spouses to terminate housing and automobile leases, protection from repossessions of automobiles and limits on credit card interest rates while on active duty.

Unfortunately, as one of our witnesses today will explain, some property management companies have tried to find a loophole in the Service Member Civil Relief Act to eliminate one of the very protections we specifically included in the law just last year.

The committee will examine how best to close even the smallest potential loopholes that would harm our servicemembers and their families as well as consider legislation to further expand the reach of the law to cover additional hardships on servicemembers and their families caused by activation or relocation.

We have a number of important witnesses for other hearing today, including a panel of private citizens who have personally experienced violations of their rights under the Service Member Civil Relief Act and USERRA, two panels of senior federal officials responsible for policy and enforcement regarding these laws and a panel of representatives from interested organizations.

We welcome all of them and thank them for their time and the effort that they put into preparing their testimony and the work that they are doing. I'd like to yield to my friend and colleague, Lane Evans, for any comments he might have.

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LANE EVANS, RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER, FULL COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS

Mr. EVANS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing to discuss and examine employment rights and responsibilities under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and the Service Member Civil Relief Act.

Additionally, I'm very pleased that we have before us today a number of legislative measures aimed at improving and enhancing

these laws. Mr. Chairman, we have an obligation to do all we can to provide servicemembers and their families the full benefits of these laws and provide them the peace of mind necessary to fulfill their duties.

It is very clear that the armed forces of this nation are serving under stressful conditions, and they and their families are greatly sacrificing. Accordingly, laws concerning their reemployment rights and legal and financial protections play an integral part in their role to serve our country.

Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with you and the other members of this committee to maintain oversight over the administration of these laws. And before I begin, I'd like to extend welcome and thanks to all the witnesses.

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I particularly want to welcome and recognize the Honorable Patrick Quinn, lieutenant governor of my home state, Illinois and appreciate him being with us. He'll be part of one of the panels coming up.

Mr. Chairman, our oversight of these topics is essential, and I appreciate your efforts. I yield back the balance of my time.

[The prepared statement of Congressman Evans appears on p. 99.]

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Evans. I'd like to yield to Chairman Brown.

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. HENRY E. BROWN, JR.,
CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON BENEFITS

Mr. BROWN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you and Ranking Member Evans for convening today's hearing which addresses, in part, policy and compliance issues associated with reemployment of mobilized Reservists and Guard members who work for public sector organizations in their civilian jobs.

We have many witnesses who have traveled some distance to be with us, and I welcome you and thank you for your participation. Today, the Department of Defense reports it has mobilized almost 387,000 Reserves and Guard members in support of Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Ranking Member Michaud and I and the Benefits Subcommittee held a hearing on July 24, 2003, with respect to private sector compliance of reemployment protections for our mobilized Reservists. At that hearing, we took testimony from companies such as Schering-Plough, ExxonMobil, W.W. Grainer, International Paper, WalMart, and my electric company in South Carolina, SCANA Corporation. All these companies in various ways exceed current law requirements regarding reemployment of mobilized Reservists.

Mr. Chairman, I also want to thank Ranking Member Michaud. At our July 24, 2003, subcommittee hearing, Mr. Michaud suggested that the committee hear testimony from public sector employers-indeed, our topic today.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Chairman Brown. Ms. Hooley?

Ms. HOOLEY. I will enter a statement for the record.

[The statement of Hon. Darlene Hooley appears on p. 104.] The CHAIRMAN. Mrs. Davis.

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. SUSAN A. DAVIS

Mrs. DAVIS. Yes. Briefly, Chairman Smith, thank you very much and Ranking Member Evans for holding this hearing. I wanted to thank all of you who are here today also for sharing with us your experiences.

As we know, thousands of Reservists are serving overseas in Iraq and other theaters, so this timing today, Mr. Chairman, is very appropriate. With thousands of Reservists serving in Iraq and other parts of the world, it is important that we ensure the laws protect those willing to act as an important line of defense against our enemies and for our freedoms.

I've heard from so many Reservists in San Diego about the current laws, and many of them, of course, praise the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act and reported that their employers took them back immediately without question.

But unfortunately, there are others who reported complications when they return from active duty. One Reservist told my staff that his employer would only take him back on a part-time basis, causing him to lose his health and other benefits that he had relied

upon.

If there are problems with the current laws, then it's up to us to fix these problems and to inform employers, both private and public, of their obligations. So I hope we can act on legislation before the committee and give them back the protections that they need and deserve.

Mr. Chairman, along with my colleague, Ms. Brown-Waite, we'll certainly be leaving at one point perhaps to manage the Home Loan bill on the floor, and, of course, there's Armed Services as well, but I hope to be here for the bulk of the hearing. Thank you very much.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mrs. Davis. We would like to welcome our distinguished first panel, Members of Congress. I'd just point out that Congresswoman Slaughter will join us later; she is attending to some duties on the floor right now.

We will begin first with the Honorable James P. McGovern, who is currently serving his fourth term as a representative from Massachusetts' Third Congressional District. He is the third-ranking democrat on the House Committee on Rules.

We will be then hearing from the Honorable Jeb Bradley, one of our committee's members. Mr. Bradley serves on you are Subcommittee on Health and Benefits. He is also a member of the Armed Services and Small Business Committees.

And we'll also be hearing from the Honorable Ginny BrownWaite, a member from Florida, one of our committee members, as well. She serves on our Subcommittee on Benefits and Health. Ms. Brown-Waite is also a member of the Budget and Financial Services Committee. Mr. McGovern, if you would proceed.

STATEMENTS OF HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS; HON. JEB BRADLEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE; AND HON. GINNY BROWN-WAITE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA

STATEMENTS OF HON. JAMES P. MCGOVERN

Mr. MCGOVERN. I want to thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Evans and members of the committee. I appreciate this opportunity to testify before this committee as it considers legislation that pertains to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, otherwise known as USERRA.

Specifically, I'm here to discuss legislation I introduced, H.R. 4477, which promotes the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees under USERRA, and I'm pleased that Ranking Member Evans and my neighboring colleague from New Hampshire, Representative Bradley, join me as original co-sponsor of this legislation, and I'm honored to have them as part of this effort.

Mr. Chairman, since September 11, 2001, over 373,000 member of the Guard and Reserve have been placed on active duty. Not since World War II have so many members of the Guard and Reserve been called to active duty. They and their families face many burdens in service to their country.

One burden faced by the men and women of the National Guard and Reserves is their employment status upon return from active duty. The uncertainty of their activation and period of time away from their jobs also severely affects their employers, a situation that has been compounded by extended deployments.

The United States Chamber of Commerce has estimated that 70 percent of military Reservists called to active duty work in small or medium-size companies.

In an effort to assist the National Guardsmen and Reservists and their employers, the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserves, ESGR, was established to address potential problems arising among the nation's employers. Trained ESGR employers manage to solve roughly 95 percent of the cases where problems have arisen when a Reserve or Guard member returns to his or her workplace through an informal process without the Department of Labor having to get involved.

But what about the other 5 percent? According to the ESGR, many of the problems facing this 5 percent of cases grew out of a lack of understanding of the rights and responsibilities of employers and their returning employees. H.R. 4477 seeks to address the small percentage of employers who do not fully understand or who are unaware of USERRA.

H.R. 4477 is a simple, straightforward bill. It seeks to promote understanding between employees and employers when it comes to their rights and obligations under USERRA. This bill would require the Department of Labor to produce a poster similar to the Family and Medical Leave poster for employers to post at work sites.

Currently, many posters are available on the Department of Labor's website. H.R. 4477 would not create additional paperwork or

burden employers with difficult Labor Department requirements. In fact, this bill is an effort to educate employers and keep them from unknowingly breaking existing law.

As this committee is aware, many employers across the country do not know about USERRA, or they are only vaguely aware of it. But not complying with USERRA, however, employers put themselves at risk of facing Labor Department investigations. By educating employers and employees before USERRA could be violated, employers will save themselves costly litigation, potential fines and public embarrassment.

Now, I'm quite sure that this committee would agree with my belief that our small and medium-size companies do not need to put themselves at risk of a Labor Department investigation.

Let me briefly share with you how I came to introduce this bill. I was contacted by a constituent who is a member of the Massachusetts ESGR. He suggested that simply altering USERRA to require its posting would solve many of the problems that he has seen arisen between employers and returning Reservists and Guardsmen.

He described how many employers are not fully aware of their responsibilities under USERRA and why many employees are afraid to exercise their rights even though those rights are protected by USERRA. In posting USERRA and familiarizing themselves with the law, employers and employees will gain a deeper understanding of USERRA and preferably work out any potential conflicts before employees are activated.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank both Ranking Member Evans and Representative Bradley again for being original co-sponsors of this legislation. I appreciate their support and the dedication that they have shown to the men and women of the National Guard and Reserves.

In fact, Representative Bradley and I share constituents who are members of the 94th Regional Readiness Command, in particular the New Hampshire and Massachusetts Army Reservists assigned to the 94th Military Police Company headquartered in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and I know he cares deeply about the 94th and its families.

I would also like to acknowledge the work done by Geoffrey Collver of the Democrat Staff of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He has worked closely with me and my staff in investigating this problem, and this bill that I'm talking about today reflects his hard work as well.

Again, I thank you for having me here today. I'm grateful for the opportunity to testify on H.R. 4477, and I look forward to the committee acting affirmatively on this bill.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. McGovern, thank you very much for your testimony. Mr. Bradley.

STATEMENT OF HON. JEB BRADLEY

Mr. BRADLEY. Thank you very much. Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Evans, members of the committee, I appreciate the opportunity to testify today on H.R. 4477, introduced by my colleague, Congressman McGovern. H.R. 4477, the Patriotic Employer Act of 2004, relates to an area of great importance given current military operations.