Home

A Soldier’s Story

AFSCME Local 119 member, Steve Cordero believes in service to his Country. He is a 21 year employee of the County of Los Angeles in the Department of Public Works. As a soldier in the Reserves since 1978 and has seen battlefields in the Iraq war, and the first Gulf War. He has always returned safely until his last tour of duty in Iraq when his vehicle hit an IED (Improvised Explosive Device).

The blast attack severely damaged his hearing in his left ear and caused other injuries. While he is home today, he remains on active duty so he can get the rehabilitation he needs through the Veterans Administration.

The County of Los Angeles adopted an ordinance several years ago for employees who were called up by the Reserves which protects employees from suffering financial hardship as a result of being called to active duty in service to our Country. The ordinance allows the County of Los Angeles to supplement the lost pay of Reservist's on active duty for up to 720 days. Due to the extended amount of time he spent in Iraq, and nature of his injuries, Steve became one of a handful of County employees to exceed the 720 day provision. When this happened his was informed that the only way he could continue to be compensated by the County would be to exhaust his accrued sick leave and vacation benefits, which he had to do temporarily.

That’s when the union got involved. Steve contact5ed the union and AFSCME Business Representative Al Austin became aware of Steve’s situation and jumped into action. Al felt that strongly that something should be done out of fairness to those returning from war and made it a top priority. “This brother served his country with honor. He shouldn’t be penalized by his employer for suffering from war injuries,” said Austin.

Al immediately took Cordero’s case to County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and the highest levels of county management to bring attention to the issue and to get a swift resolution. Fortunately, the County officials recognized the problem with the policy and were very cooperative. The problem was that the County ordinance didn’t provide for the Department with the ability to continue paying Mr. Cordero. After about three weeks of meetings, they were able to get the pay and benefits issues resolve. Steve was placed on a special administrative leave, and all of his benefits were restored. Steve told us that until Al became involved he was unable to find the right person to explain his situation. “Without Al I probably would have never have gotten the money I was entitled to.”

As a result of AFSCME’s advocacy on behalf of Steve Cordero, the County Board of Supervisors will be considering an amendment to the existing ordinance sometime in July to prevent others military reserves from going through the unfortunate circumstances that Steve and his family did.

 go to top

Back to home page