Washington ? Increasing numbers of National Guard and Reserve troops who have returned from war in Iraq and Afghanistan are encountering new battles with their civilian employers at home. Jobs were eliminated, benefits were reduced, and promotions were forgotten.

Since the 9-11 attacks, the Labor Department reports receiving greater numbers of complaints under a 1994 law designed to give Guard and Reserve troops their old jobs back, or provide them with equivalent positions. Benefits and raises must be protected, as if the serviceman or servicewoman had never left.

Some soldiers, however, are finding the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act can’t protect them.

For example, Ron Vander Wal, of Pollock, S.D., was originally told his job as a customer-service representative was eliminated. He was hired after filing a civil lawsuit seeking damages.

The Labor Department said complaint numbers would have been worse had the government not made an aggressive effort to explain the law to employers.

“Any increase in the number of complaints is a concern to us,” said Fred Juarbe Jr., assistant secretary of labor for veterans employment and training. “At the same time, we’re pleased by the fact that the increase in complaints is not at the level that would have been expected.”

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said the department was drafting rules to spell out the law’s protections for service personnel. “We’ve got to do everything we can to protect their re-employment rights,” she said.

The department received about 900 formal complaints a year before 9-11. The statistical picture since then, based on fiscal years ending Sept. 30:

National Guard and Reserve troops filing complaints under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act in Kansas:2002: 24 complaints2003: 38 complaints2004: 22 complaints so farSource: Labor Department

• 1,218 cases opened in 2002.
• 1,327 cases in 2003.
• 1,200 cases from Oct. 1, 2003 through July 31. If projected over 12 months, the figure would be 1,440, the department said.

The department upheld or settled soldiers’ complaints in one-third of last year’s cases, while another third were found to have no merit. The remaining cases are inactive or closed, often because the government lost contact with the soldier or the soldier returned to active duty.

When Guard and Reserve troops returned from the first Gulf War, there was one complaint for every 54 soldiers leaving active duty. Currently, with the government’s aggressive drive to inform employers of the law, the figure has improved to 1 in 69.

The complaints represent a small percentage of the quarter-million Guard and Reserve troops who have left active duty since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Not all returning troops are bitter about their job loss.

Jerry Chambers, a substance-abuse consultant in Oberlin, Kan., agreed budget cuts left his former nonprofit employer no choice but to eliminate his job.

“I don’t fault them for that, and I don’t hold grudges,” he said. He was among the lucky ones, finding employment with his Reserve unit, the 1013th Quartermaster Co. based in North Platte and McCook, Neb. His unit has been mobilized anew, and he is again on active duty.

For others, finding their jobs gone was a hardship, emotionally and economically.

Larry Gill, a former Alabama police officer with a leg injury from a grenade attack, had to give up a career that began in 1992 and followed in the footsteps of his father and brother.

“My biggest concern is loss of income,” he said.