	Background

The overall process used to implement USERRA is as follows. DOD and DOL share  responsibility for outreach—the education of servicemembers and  employers about their respective responsibilities under USERRA. The Secretary of Labor in consultation with the U.S. Attorney General and  the Special Counsel prepares and transmits a USERRA annual report to  Congress on, among other matters, the number of USERRA claims  reviewed by DOL, and during the current demonstration project by OSC,  along with the number of claims referred to DOJ or OSC. No Single Agency Is Accountable for Maintaining Visibility over the Entire Complaint Resolution Process

Although USERRA defines individual agency roles and responsibilities, it  does not make any single individual or office accountable for maintaining  visibility over the entire complaint resolution process. Moreover, from the  time informal complaints are filed with DOD’s ESGR through final  resolution of formal complaints at DOL, DOJ, or OSC, no one entity has  visibility over the entire process. Agencies Have Taken Action to Improve Information on Employers and Assistance to Servicemembers Under USERRA

		Outreach

Integral to getting servicemembers the help they need is educating them  and their employers on their respective responsibilities under USERRA. To improve the reporting of National Guard and Reserve employment  information, we recommended that the Secretary of Defense direct the  Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs to  establish specific time frames for reservists to report their employment  data, set specific time frames for reserve components to achieve the  established compliance reporting goals, and direct the service components  to take action to ensure reporting compliance.
Why GAO Did This Study

Since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense (DOD) has mobilized more than 500,000 National Guard and Reserve members. As reservists return to civilian life, concerns exist about difficulties with their civilian employment. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994 protects the employment rights of individuals, largely National Guard and Reserve members, as they transition back to their civilian employment. GAO has issued a number of reports on agency efforts to carry out their USERRA responsibilities. DOD, the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) have key responsibilities under the act. GAO was asked to discuss the overall process that the agencies use to implement USERRA. Specifically, this testimony addresses (1) organizational accountability in the implementation of USERRA and (2) actions that the agencies have taken to improve their processes to implement USERRA. For this testimony, GAO drew from its most recent reports on USERRA.

What GAO Found

USERRA defines individual agency roles and responsibilities; however, it does not designate any single individual or office as accountable for maintaining visibility over the entire complaint resolution process. From the time informal complaints are filed with DOD's Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve through final resolution of formal complaints at DOL, DOJ, or OSC, no one entity has visibility over the entire process. The four agencies have generally been responsive to GAO's recommendations to improve the implementation of USERRA--on outreach to employers, data sharing and trend information, reporting to Congress, and the internal review of DOL's investigators' determinations of USERRA claims.