The Protect VETS Act

Sen. Joe Manchin is once again teaming up with Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., on proposed legislation, this time to protect veterans.

The Protect VETS Act seeks to restore federal employment and training assistance to military veterans. The bill specifically aims to ensure veterans have access to job assistance specialists working with businesses to develop job opportunities for veterans and help those veterans, especially disabled ones, find work.

“We must do everything we can to ensure that our brave veterans, who have sacrificed so much in defense of our country, receive the best care and services when they return home, and that starts by helping them find secure, good-paying jobs,” said Manchin, D-W.Va.

“By reducing employment assistance to our veterans, we are not only ignoring our obligation to our heroes, but we are also ignoring the fact that the unemployment rate for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan significantly exceeds the national average. This legislation will reverse the Labor Department’s latest cuts and restore the critical job services our veterans rightly deserve.”

Congress created Local Veterans Employment Representatives and Disabled Veterans Outreach Specialists in 1944 under the GI Bill. They were trained in helping veterans leverage their unique skills sets into marketable skills. In April, the Labor Department issued a memo forbidding job specialists from assisting 70 percent of veterans, including disabled veterans. Congress fully funded the job specialists last year despite budget cuts under sequestration.

Manchin and Toomey co-sponsored an amendment on legislation last year to expand background checks for gun purchases made online or at gun shows. The amendment was defeated.

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Rep. Nick Rahall wants to make sure West Virginians still have access to Amtrak services.

The top Democrat on the House Transportation Committee worked to advance legislation that would ensure Amtrak’s long-distance network would continue, including the Cardinal Route that provides service to the Mountain State.

“This bill provides much-needed investments in the long distance network and ensures continuation of all long distance trains, including the Cardinal that runs through southern West Virginia,” Rahall said. “Reliable passenger rail service helps move our economy forward and is critical to communities across our nation. I appreciate the bipartisan work that went into drafting this bill, and I am sure it will serve as a model for future legislation that moves through our committee.”

Amtrak’s long-distance services were last reauthorized in 2008 and expired at the end of the 2013 fiscal year. That law resulted in previously unseen successes for the railway, including increased ridership and less debt. The current legislation seeks to build up on that success and “represents a careful balance of efforts to reform Amtrak with the need to ensure the national passenger rail system continues to thrive in its mission to connect communities across the country,” according to information from Rahall’s office.

The committee voted unanimously to advance the legislation to the full House of Representatives.

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A possible data breach at home improvement retailer Home Depot has many consumers on edge. But West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is urging customers to take steps to monitor their own credit to ensure they don’t become victims.

“Our office is very concerned any time a business reports it may have been the victim of a data breach, and we will do all we can to ensure West Virginia consumers are protected,” Morrisey said.

To help protect themselves, Morrisey suggests consumers:

Monitor their bank account and credit card statements for unauthorized charges.

Immediately report unauthorized transactions to local law enforcement and the financial institution, and then contact the Consumer Protection Division of Morrisey’s office. Consumers also should report the crime to the Federal Trade Commission.

Place a fraud alert on their credit report. This free alert lasts for 90 days and makes it harder for someone to open a line of credit in the consumer’s name. To place the alert, call one of the three major credit reporting agencies — Equifax at 1-800-525-6285, Experian at 1-888-397-3742 and TransUnion at 1-800-680-7289.

Place a security freeze on their credit report by sending a letter requesting the freeze to the three credit agencies by using certified mail, return receipt requested. This freeze puts a lock on credit so third parties cannot access the consumer’s information. The freeze costs $5 plus postal fees for each credit agency and lasts until the card holder lifts them. The fees must be paid again if the consumer lifts the freeze for a credit check, to open a new credit card, to take out a loan or to make a large purchase such as a home or car and wishes to reinstate the freeze.

Consumers are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit reporting agencies.

- See more at: http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20140917/DM0104/140919296/1276#sthash.SWUA6I8a.dpuf

Soldier files suit against Florida for discrimination

Soldier sues Florida for discrimination

Sep. 19, 2014 - 08:06AM   |  

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A three-tour veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan has sued Gov. Rick Scott, pictured, and top officials at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, whom he claims stripped him of his job because of his military service. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

First Coast News report

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A three-tour veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan has sued Gov. Rick Scott and top officials at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, whom he claims stripped him of his job because of his military service.

But DBPR says Walter Kreitlow accepted a pay cut and demotion during an agency reclassification in 2011 and that they never discriminated against Kreitlow.

The complaint was filed Sept. 9 in Leon County court and claims Scott, DBPR Secretary Ken Lawson, deputy secretary Michael Walker, director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Allen Douglas and Capt. Ray Owens, ABT district captain, failed to supervise ABT law enforcement chief Vicki Cutliffe's discriminatory practices towards Kreitlow.

The 17-page complaint seeks monetary and punitive damages for violating both state and federal laws that protect those serving in the military, including the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act that says a person cannot be denied employment or reemployment based on their obligation to perform military service.

In October 2011, after spending about three weeks training with the U.S. Army Reserves in Kentucky, Kreitlow returned to work as a training coordinator and was told that his position had been eliminated due to a staffing change. His office was moved to a 5-foot-by-9-foot storage closet with no electricity, phone lines or computer outlets, while his old office sat vacant for more than a year. He was also stripped of supervisory duties and his state-issued cellphone.

In early November, Kreitlow was offered a lieutenant position in Miami, where DBPR said there was a greater need and would have forced him to relocate, or select a lower-paid position as an agent with ABT in Tallahassee, where Kreitlow lives with his wife and two school-aged children.

Kreitlow says the decision to eliminate his position was not a decision influenced by consolidation.

"Rather, it was a calculated decision by defendant Chief (Vicki) Cutcliffe to fire plaintiff Kreitlow because of his obligations to the United States Army as a reservist," the complaint said.

With his deployment to Afghanistan for a third tour looming, Kreitlow said he felt he had "no choice" other than to accept the demotion and pay cut. On Nov. 8, Kreitlow signed the memo to accept his demotion and a pay cut of 7.5 percent, which would go into effect on Veterans Day 2011, according to DBPR documents.

In May 2012, Kreitlow traveled to Afghanistan for a month-long leaders reconnaissance mission but was scheduled to return to ABT before officially being deployed in July. When he came back, his office had been packed up into boxes. Tajiana Ancora-Brown, DBPR spokeswoman, said Kreitlow's office was packed up ahead of a new carpet installation.

While deployed in Afghanistan, Kreitlow sent a complaint via email to Scott's office to express his concerns about his treatment and his demotion, the complaint said.

"In addition to fighting our enemies abroad, I was forced to fight for my job at home," he told reporters on Wednesday.

Kreitlow returned home in July 2013 to the same storage closet while less-senior employees enjoyed standard offices. He was not given a new agency-issued vehicle that he says he was entitled to and was given a field service job two hours away.

Kreitlow went to the governor's office to reiterate his complaint in September 2013. That same month, DBPR said Kreitlow was a "threat to the agency" andhe was forced to speak with a counselor who later deemed him fit to work at DBPR, the filing said. Kreitlow said he was never given any information as to who deemed him a threat or why.

Kreitlow then filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor on Nov. 1. Three days later, they sent a letter to DBPR saying "as a result of the investigation, we have determined that the evidence supports (Kreitlow's) allegations," according to the filing.

"The agency categorically denies that any action affecting Mr. Kreitlow has been as a result of his military participation," said Glenn Abbott, DBPR bureau chief of human resources, in letter to the labor department later that month.

"This agency has historically been very supportive of Mr. Kreitlow's military service and is proud to recognize our active members of the armed services and veterans for their service to this nation," he added.

John Tupps, press secretary for Gov. Scott, gave the following statement regarding the lawsuit Wednesday: "Mr. Kreitlow continues to work at DBPR, and we appreciate Mr. Kreitlow's continued service to our country and state."

"As a Marine myself, any allegation made by a veteran, or service member, who feels they are not being treated fairly I take seriously and address immediately," Secretary Lawson said in a emailed statement Wednesday. "I am proud of this department's commitment to our veterans and I am confident the courts will conclude we treated and continue to treat Mr. Kreitlow fairly."

Tallahassee attorney Thomas Dickens, Kreitlow's lawyer, said he had been in talks with the governor's office for months and they made no offers to Kreitlow.

Dickens said the governor's office said they were prepared to fight in court.

"I never wanted to file a lawsuit. This is not personal," said Kreitlow, a Republican who voted for Scott in 2010. "I simply feel that I have been wronged and need to make this right so I can take care of my family."