Employment discrimination “a slap in the face” to disabled veterans

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2008—In March, AMVETS, along with a coalition of 21 veterans’ service organizations, sent a letter to Reps. Steny Hoyer of Maryland and James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin encouraging Congress to restore employment protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Since the bipartisan resolution (H.R. 3195) was introduced last summer, little action has been taken on the part of Congress.

In the letter to Hoyer and Sensenbrenner, the coalition of VSOs cited the “Catch-22” in current legislation that allows disabled veterans to be terminated from their positions without recourse since they are “not disabled enough” under current ADA legislation. Since the ADA was passed in 1990, the courts have favored employers in an alarming 97 percent of discrimination cases, usually before the employee has an opportunity to prove whether or not discrimination had occurred on the basis of their disability.

AMVETS and the coalition of VSOs consider this a slap in the face to our disabled veterans. Our disabled veterans have been discriminated against long enough and it is time for Congress to take action.

To read the letter to Reps. Hoyer and Sensenbrenner, Click Here.