Agencies’ Available Data Provides Limited Insight in Overall USERRA Compliance and Employer Support

DOL, DOJ, OSC, and DOD have formal and informal USERRA complaint  data, and some employer support figures. DOL’s formal complaint numbers  show a possible relationship with the level of reserve component usage and  the number of complaints. DOD data indicate that some  employers are exceeding USERRA requirements; however, these data have  limitations. Furthermore, data from a DOD survey indicate that most servicemembers  do not seek assistance for their USERRA problems, which indicates that  complaint data alone cannot fully explain USERRA compliance or  employer support. It will be several  years before the ESGR can identify any meaningful trends in informal  complaint numbers because the ESGR has only 1 full year of informal  complaint data in its central database. Because informal complaint figures have not been  captured annually, agencies cannot know whether informal complaints  have been increasing, decreasing, or remaining steady. Agencies Have Conducted Educational Outreach, but Efficiency and Effectiveness of Outreach Has Been Hindered by Lack of Employer Information

Agencies have taken actions to educate hundreds of thousands of  servicemembers and employers about USERRA, but the efficiency and  effectiveness of agency outreach actions are hindered by a lack of  employer information. Efficiency and Effectiveness of Employer Outreach Efforts Are Hindered by Lack of Employer Information

Agencies have been restricted in their ability to efficiently and effectively  target educational outreach actions to employers who actually have  servicemember employees, because only limited employer information is  available. As of August 2005, about 40 percent of DOD’s Ready  Reserve members had not entered their civilian employer information into  DOD’s database. Without complete information about the full  expanse of servicemember employers, the federal agencies conducting  outreach efforts have no assurance that they have informed all  servicemember employers about USERRA rights, benefits, and obligations. Agencies’ Ability to Efficiently and Effectively Address Complaints Hampered by Incompatible Data Systems, Reliance on Paper Files, and Lack of Visibility

A segmented process with incompatible data systems hampers agencies’  abilities to efficiently and effectively address servicemembers’ complaints  and report results as intended by USERRA. Due to the incompatibility of agency  systems and the lack of visibility across agencies, we were not able to track  the entire elapsed time that servicemembers wait to have their complaints  fully addressed. We analyzed  the processing times and elapsed times for the 52 complaints that had been  closed and reopened two or more times and found substantial differences  between the figures. As a  result, the system recorded the average processing time as 103 days. Periodic, projectable surveys of the  servicemembers who are covered by USERRA could provide DOD, DOL,  DOJ, and OSC with a means to determine whether or not USERRA  compliance and employer support is improving and thus, USERRA’s  purpose—to minimize employment disadvantages that can result from  service in the uniformed service—is being achieved. However, DOD has not taken steps to enforce its requirement for  National Guard and Reserve members to enter and maintain their civilian  employer data. This slows the complaint resolution process. The  creation, maintenance, and transfer of these paper files add to complaint  processing times and the time servicemembers wait to have their  complaints addressed. For this report, we used  results from the May 2004 survey that showed at least 72 percent of the  Selected Reserve members who had experienced USERRA-related  problems never filed a complaint, informal or formal, to seek assistance in  resolving the problem. Scope and Methodology

To assess whether the federal agencies that support or enforce USERRA  have data that indicates the level of compliance with USERRA, we gathered  and analyzed data from DOL, DOD, DOJ, and OSC. We discussed the agency data related to USERRA compliance  or employer support, along with the practices and methods used to collect  these data, with responsible officials from the   Department Of Labor, Washington, D.C.;  Department Of Labor, Veterans Employment and Training Service, Field  Offices in Memphis, TN, and Norfolk, VA; and regional offices in  Philadelphia, PA; and Atlanta, GA;  Department Of Labor, Office of the Solicitor, Washington, D.C.; and  Regional Offices in Philadelphia, PA, and Atlanta, GA;  Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.;  Office of Special Counsel, Washington, D.C.;  Department Of Defense, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve,  Arlington, VA; and  Department Of Defense, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve,  Customer Service Center, Millington, TN. Reemployment ? This outreach effort is focused on  leaders in industries that employ significant numbers of reserve  component members. 1. 2. a.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994 protects millions of people, largely National Guard and Reserve members, as they transition between their federal duties and their civilian employment. The act is intended to eliminate or minimize employment disadvantages to civilian careers that can result from service in the uniformed services. This report examines the extent to which the Departments of Defense (DOD), Labor (DOL), Justice (DOJ), and the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) have achieved this purpose, specifically, the extent to which the agencies (1) have data that indicate the level of compliance with USERRA, (2) have efficiently and effectively conducted educational outreach, and (3) have efficiently and effectively addressed servicemember complaints.

What GAO Found

Whether or not overall USERRA compliance has changed is difficult to firmly establish; however, the agencies that support or enforce USERRA have collected formal and informal complaint data and some employer support figures that provide limited insights into compliance. For example, DOL's formal complaint numbers show a possible relationship with the level of the use of the reserve components and the number of complaints. DOD data show that some employers exceed USERRA requirements, but these data have limitations. DOD has only 1 full year of informal complaint data, so it will be several years before DOD can identify any meaningful trends in informal complaints. Because informal complaint figures have not been captured on a consistent basis, agencies lack the data necessary to identify total complaint trends. Furthermore, data from a 2004 DOD survey showed that at least 72 percent of National Guard and Reserve members with USERRA problems never sought assistance for their problems. This raises questions as to whether complaint numbers alone can fully explain USERRA compliance or employer support. Some recently added employment questions on DOD's periodic surveys, if continued, offer the potential to provide insight into compliance and employer support issues. DOD, DOL, and OSC have educated hundreds of thousands of employers and servicemembers about USERRA, but the efficiency and effectiveness of this outreach is hindered by a lack of employer information. DOD's reserve component members who can be involuntarily called to active duty are required to enter their civilian employer information into a DOD database but the services have not enforced this requirement and as of August 2005, about 40 percent of the members had not entered the required information. Without information about the full expanse of servicemember employers, federal agencies have conducted general outreach efforts but have been limited in their ability to efficiently and effectively target educational outreach efforts to employers who actually have servicemember employees. Agency abilities to efficiently and effectively address servicemember complaints are hampered by incompatible data systems, a reliance on paper files, and a segmented process that lacks visibility. The systems that DOD, DOL, DOJ, and OSC use to track USERRA complaints are not compatible. As a result, data collection efforts are sometimes duplicated, and DOL relies on its paper files when transferring or reviewing complaints. This slows the transfer of complaints and limits the ability of DOL managers to conduct effective, timely oversight of complaint files. Furthermore, segmented responsibilities and lack of visibility have led agencies to focus on outputs rather than results. For example, agencies measure complaint processing times but not the elapsed time servicemembers actually wait to have their complaints fully addressed. GAO analysis of 52 complaints that had been closed and reopened two or more times found that recorded processing times averaged 103 days but the actual elapsed times that servicemembers waited to have their complaints fully addressed averaged 619 days.