Discharged, jobless vets aim to change hire rules
Discrimination by employers limits job opportunities
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Military veterans whowere discharged for relatively minor offenses say they often can’t get jobs, and they hope a recent warning to employers by the state of Connecticut will change that.
The state’s human rights commission told employers last month they could be breaking the law if they discriminate against veterans with some types of less-than-honorable discharges.
Blanket policies against hiring such veterans could be discriminatory, the commission said, because the military has issued them disproportionately to black, Latino, gay and disabled veterans.
At least one other state, Illinois, already prohibits hiring discrimination based on a veteran’s discharge status, advocates say, but Connecticut appears to be the first to base its decision on what it deems discrimination by the military.
Regardless of the state’s reasons, veterans say, the attention there could at least educate employers.
“You may as well be a felon when you’re looking for a job,” said Iraq War veteran Kristofer Goldsmith. Goldsmith said the Army gave him a general discharge in 2007 because he attempted suicide.
An honorable discharge is the only type that entails full benefits.
A dishonorable discharge is given after a court-martial for serious offenses, which can include felonies. Other types of discharges in between — known by veterans as “bad Iraq War veteran Kristofer Goldsmith says the Army gave him a general discharge because he attempted suicide. paper” — are issued administratively, with no court case, and can stem from behavior including talking back, tardiness or drug use.
The commission says its guidance focused on that middle class of discharges.
Sometimes such discharges are given to veterans whose violations come from post-traumatic stress disorder, like Goldsmith’s, or brain injuries.
Many private employers may not be aware of extenuating circumstances or understand the differences between discharges, critics say. They either won’t hire bad- paper veterans or won’t give them preferences an honorably discharged veteran would get, the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School told the Connecticut commission.
The clinic, acting on behalf of the Connecticut chapter of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, showed the commission job postings that require applicants who have served in the military to have been honorably discharged.
It also cited a 2017 report by the advocacy organization Protect Our Defenders that found black service members were more likely to be disciplined than white members.
And the commission’s guidance to employers notes thousands of service members have been discharged for their sexual orientation.
Employers might require an honorable discharge as an easy way to narrow the pool and get strong applicants, said Amanda Ljubicic, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut.
“At face value it seems like a simple, logical cutoff to make as an employer,” she said.
More than 13,000 service members received a type of discharge for misconduct, known as other than honorable, between 2011 and 2015, despite being diagnosed with PTSD, a traumatic brain injury or another condition associated with misconduct, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found.