Reserve Component Civilian Employment Information Program Begins
By Master Sgt. Bob Haskell, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 31, 2004 – A new Defense Department reporting system has
begun so members of all seven reserve components can register their employers.
DoD decision-makers need to know the civilian employers and government agencies
of the department's approximately 1.2 million National Guardsmen and
reservists, officials explained. The database will, among other things, give
officials a better idea of who should, and should not, be mobilized for
national emergencies, they said.
The database is called the Civilian Employment Information Program, and it is
the way for all Guard and Reserve members to comply with the law that requires
them to inform DoD of who employs them and how they are employed when not
performing their military duties.
"This program will make it possible for defense officials, including those
responsible for mobilizing our traditional Guard and Reserve members, to know
who can be called up for active military duty without jeopardizing the civilian
forces responsible for safeguarding our country," explained David Chu,
undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
Members of the Army National Guard, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and
Navy Individual Ready Reserve can now enter their employment data on the new
Defense Manpower Data Center Web site. Members of the Army Reserve, Navy
Selected Reserve, Marine Reserve and Coast Guard Reserve will be able to enter
their employment data on their existing personnel reporting systems.
To register their CEI information, reserve component members should go to their
respective service's CEI program Web sites, officials said.
Guardsmen and reservists must register 10 specific data fields concerning their
civilian employers and job skills to meet three requirements mandated by law.
Chu said the Defense Department must:
- Give consideration to civilian workers -- including emergency
responders such as police officers, firefighters and medical personnel --
necessary to maintain the national health, safety and interests when
considering which Guard and Reserve members should be called to active duty.
- Ensure more members with critical civilian jobs and skills are
not retained in the reserve components than are necessary to respond to
emergencies.
- Inform the reservists' civilian employers of their rights and
responsibilities under the 1994 Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment
Rights Act.
The information could be another tool to help determine which units or members
of the Ready Reserve should be mobilized, defense officials explained.
Information about full-time employers also would make it possible for DoD
officials to enhance employer support for the Guard and Reserve, officials
said.
"The goal is to maintain a 95 percent accurate data base for the Selected
Reserve," explained Thomas Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reserve
affairs, "and to maintain 75 percent accuracy for the Individual Ready Reserve
database. The department is required by law to maintain adequate and current
personnel records on members of the reserve components, including each member's
civilian occupational skills."
The law also requires all members of reserve components to notify appropriate
defense officials about any changes in their civilian employment.
Officials said the Defense Department knows 13 percent of the Guard and Reserve
work for the federal government, and that half of those are federal military
technicians.
Surveys have told DoD officials the general sectors of the economy in which the
other 87 percent of reserve component members work: About 60 percent work in
private-sector firms, 20 percent work for state or local governments, and less
than 7 percent are self-employed.
Employees are considered full time for Civilian Employment Information Program
purposes if their employer considers them to be employed full time. Self-
employed personnel are considered full time if they work for themselves for an
average of at least 30 hours per week.
Defense officials do not currently know the specific skills these members
possess, or specifically who the employers are. Nor does the Defense Department
know which members of the Ready Reserve are employed in the professions related
to maintaining the national health, safety and interest, officials pointed out.
The Civilian Employment Information Program, Chu explained, will require all
Guard and Reserve members to list on the database their employment status,
their employer's names, their employer's complete mailing addresses, their
civilian job titles, and their total number of years in their current civilian
occupations.
The requirement on the part of the guardsman or reservist to provide CEI data
is not a violation of the Privacy Act, added Hall. CEI is the extension of
existing personnel data records, and is covered under previous Privacy Act
systems notices, he said.
Unlike previous military service efforts to voluntarily gather employer data,
registering employer data in the CEI program is mandatory. Guard and Reserve
members who knowingly fail or refuse to provide that information, or who
knowingly provide false employment-related information, may be subject to
administrative action or punishment, officials said.
(Army Master Sgt. Bob Haskell is assigned to the National Guard Bureau,
Arlington, Va.)
Biography:
Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and
Readiness David S.C. Chu
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve
Affairs Thomas F. Hall
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