Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

I'll preface this by saying that I'm in the Army National Guard, and have dealt with scheduling problems at the operations I've worked for. In general the companies I've worked for have bent over backwards to accommodate my drill schedule, AT's, and my deployment in 06-07.
I know of other Guard Soldiers who have had problems with their employers though. It's relatively common and unfortunate. Run the gamut from relatively minor problems up to full fledged career breakers and lawsuit material. From private civilian employers up to state and federal agencies having conflicts with their serving Guard employees.
As long as OIF and OEF have been going on now, it seems that the media and general public have become much more aware of the need to safeguard the employment rights of those in the Guard and Reserve -of all components.
Abuses still happen though. And can be dealt with through set in place procedures. I know little about the outcomes of cases that reach the point where they require that level of intervention though.
Large aviation operations seem to be supportive, from what I've read, of their aviators who also wear the uniform as Guardsmen/Reservists in the Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve, and aircrew reservists in the Navy/Marine Corps components too.
Where a problem can arise is when you have a smaller operation, like a 135 operation can be, with a much lower number of employees, that is unfamiliar with the responsibilities that a serving Guard/Reservist will have. The original poster of this thread- I'm wondering if you are the only, or first pilot they've had in this situation?

My concern here is- and I expect some flaming for this based on the general consensus here that this company has problems, is this really a case of employment discrimination based on your serving in the Reserves?

My qualms about this are brought up by two things.
1. The title of this thread- "GA Skies Sucks". They may very well. As I said above, that seems to be the general consensus from other posters here.
You were apparently fired at some point in time after posting the thread, am I correct? My question here is- what if a pilot for this company who was not serving in the reserves had posted this thread, would there be any doubt that by doing so he/ she might be about to bring some heat down on themselves if "outed" by anyone at the company viewing the thread?
Also, and again, here come the flames I guess, was this really the forum to attempt to solve your problems with the company's scheduling procedures you mentioned earlier? Did you talk to dispatch, your CP, or DO about your concerns before starting this thread? Remember the chain of command, in other words?
My concern here is that the company would be able to use this thread as evidence to question your judgement abilities. Noone, and I mean noone, wants to see their company referred to this way in an open forum for the entire www to see. From aircrew to paying passengers. Would it not be possible to see this thread as malicious on your part?
2. How specifically does your being in the Reserves factor into the company's decision to terminate your employment? You mention earlier about "assuming" that must be the case because you apparently performed your duties up to par, and had no negative performance counseling or reviews. My concern here is that you mention earlier that you had problems with the way you were informed of your schedule for the next days work. The information about you being in the Reserves showed up after that. I hate to sound like a jerk here, but the crummy knowledge of upcoming schedules is the way it is in a lot of this stuff. I do have sympathy for you in that arena though. There should be good lines of communication between pilots and dispatch about time off and on. GA skies might indeed be pretty rotten at that. Also GA Skies, or any employer should uphold its legal responsibilities to allow Guard/Reserve employees to fulfill their military obligations.

To sum it up- I hope you are not using your service in the Reserves in a manner that is malicious or unjust against an employer that terminated you.
The general tone of other posters seems to warn that the company has problems, but I'm also concerned that you may be being encouraged to use your position as a Reservist to punish the company for their actions. Again, only you know the true timeline and your true performance for the company. If your case is valid, I encourage you to resolve it.


I wish you the best and hope that all concerned can learn something from this.

Good luck.