Protecting Legal Rights of
Activated Guards and Reservists

As more of Wisconsin's National Guard and reserves members are activated, it is important that lawyers be familiar with the provisions of two federal statutes that protect the legal rights of their military service clients ... the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act and the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.

by Stephen J. McManus

A longtime client rushes into your office on a Friday afternoon and tells you that the President has activated his National Guard unit - he will be leaving soon for some undisclosed location in support of military operations in the Persian Gulf. He confides that he can no longer afford his monthly bills (including a leased car and three credit card bills) because his pay will be cut in half, and he wonders what to do about his pending divorce. To make matters worse, his employer is threatening to fire him, and he just signed a yearlong lease. How can you help him?

Most attorneys in Wisconsin rarely encounter these issues because our state's military community is composed primarily of National Guard and reserve units, such as the General Mitchell Air Reserve Station, Volk Field, and Fort McCoy, rather than active duty members. However, with military operations currently ongoing in the Balkans, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan, many of Wisconsin's National Guard and reserves members have been activated; nationally, more than 220,000 reservists and guards have been activated into full-time federal status.1 With this dramatic increase in active military members, it is important to revisit two federal statutes that affect military members and their legal rights.

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