Time Since 8 July 2010:

Years

Days

Hours

Mins

Secs

Click here to see more about these counters

ADVICE REGARDING USERRA VIOLATIONS - CLICK HERE!

168 Days: Redirection

By Ken Snyder

While my end goal has not changed, I have determined that my focus might need a little adjustment.

Years ago I had some stickers printed up with the line "It Really Happened In KCK" and our web address on it. They showed up everywhere, some of them left or given out by me, many more displayed by others. I originally spent a lot of time and effort on my own situation, but as I investigated for my case I realized that there were many other cases like mine where employers took short cuts to rid themselves of service members. The operational tempo Reserve and Guard members are subjected to isn't going to subside anytime soon. The only way things are going to improve would be to reinstate a draft - and that isn't going to fly with those who would rather have someone else's son or daughter shoulder the load of operations requested by our leaders.

I have said many times on this site (and to every service member I've related my story to) that my goal is now to effect change in the way the DOL investigates USERRA cases. There is no doubt that in my case, as well as others I have discovered in my research, the simple answer is the DOL failed. Somehow, my family and I survived the over-seven-year ordeal; it wasn't easy, we'll most likely never recoup the wage and benefit losses listed at the top of the page, but we're moving forward. There's no guarantee that the next service member out there will be able to be as resilient as we have been, and stories like mine are definitely going to undermine retention and recruitment.

As we move forward, I want to see the DOL improve their processes. Attention to detail, actually listening to service members, asking the tough questions and demanding answers would have made a world of difference - and hearing that service members have someone that will look after their interests (and still remain impartial, so as to insure that cases without merit are determined as such) will help to restore faith in career Guard and Reserve service.

You see I removed "It Really Happened In KCK" from the top banner and replaced it with something I think is far more appropriate. Here's how it breaks down:

• They Did It. "They" are the people in the Traffic Signal Shop: DeGraeve, Castle, Sisson, and Dunn - they saw what happened and did nothing. Their cowardice is legendary, and will not be forgotten. But "they" are also their leadership: Clark, who had to be coached by DeLeon as to how to make that falsified evaluation look as damaging as possible, all to make sure that I was not retained; Johnson, who either was inept in not recognizing the obvious errors in that evaluation or was complicit in the decision to wrongfully terminate me and cover it up as much as possible; as well as the General Manager and Board of Directors who never questioned what was going on. "They" includes Wonnell and Sieve-Wilson, who thought more of "winning" than being sure that justice was served, denying and delaying until they had my family practically at bankruptcy, and looking the other way when the details didn't favor their clients. "They" also includes Kelvington and the DOL, whose poor handling of this USERRA case doomed it to failure.
• They Know It. There is no doubt that everyone mentioned above is fully aware by now what a travesty this entire termination was. They all have seen everything posted to this point (with more to come), and some have seen even more. A perfect example is in Dunn's employee file: why are there two copies of the same "annual" evaluation, one with Johnson's initials on it? They can resent it all day long, but they can't deny it.
• We Tell It. In order to make change happen, my story has to be told. I won't stop until I know for certain that DOL is committed to real improvements. If that upsets some people, perhaps they need to take a long, hard look at their part in this and ask themselves "what could I have done differently?"

So there you have it: They Did It, They Know It, We Tell It. As simple as it gets. I am going to keep posting about DOL's failures and the process of effecting change - if that includes BPU information, so be it. But I am going to focus more on DOL and advocating for service members. Everyone knows how I feel about BPU, many KCK residents know how inept and corrupt they can be, so there isn't much more that needs to be said about that.

Next: Stop The Clock!
To return to the index page, click here.