Cover Story: Keeping Home Fires Burning As Reserves are Called Up, Their Employers Scramble

With the prospect of war with Iraq increasing, 168,083 Army Reserve and National Guard members had been called to active duty as of Wednesday, a move that has had an immediate impact not only on personal lives but in the workplace.

In Sacramento, Mercy General Hospital has a plan to cover for Elizabeth Garcia, the emergency-room nursing supervisor and a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, while she is on active duty. Three other supervisors and a manager will pitch in to do her work in the E.R.

"We want Elizabeth back," says Cindy Mayo, Mercy General’s chief nurse executive.

In San Jose, Anthony Gairnese, who handles the business side at BG Regional Labels, producer of labels for facilities and mechanical contractors, said he asked his wife, Laura Ohara, to help with the books while he is away on active duty. "I told my wife the main objective is to control the cash flow. That right now is critical, with the economy in the situation it is in," he said.

Javier Garcia belongs to a Marine Corps Reserve unit in San Bruno that was activated and sent to Camp Pendleton a little more than a year ago. Last week, he was deployed to the Persian Gulf. In civilian life, he’s a head clerk at San Francisco’s Market Street Safeway where Jack Brose, the manager, quickly trained two other workers to handle Garcia’s duties.

"In a grocery store you have to react quickly, and Javier can do that," said Brose. "He has leadership qualities -- follow-through, good decision- making," said Brose, himself a veteran who flew helicopters for the First Cavalry in Vietnam.

The federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act provides workplace protections for employees who perform military service. It also applies to all employers, including the federal government, regardless of the size of their business.