Meeting Summary & Beyond the Article - Military Spouse Legal Rights

(Expanded Article)

In January I held a Military Dinner Table Conversation that was an open forum. I didn’t know what folks would want to talk about. So much is happening right now, problems with Tricare West, issues with the Global Household Goods Contract. We ended up talking about uncertainty. More on that conversation below. But first here is an article that I wrote and published based on our November Conversation.

Military Families Need the Same Legal Protections as Service Members

When Angela Neal’s husband found out that he was going to be able to pursue his PhD as part of his next duty assignment, their family was excited. It seemed like the perfect time for Angela to lean into her career and get her PhD too. So they both applied to the same “military-friendly” school.

Her husband was accepted and was even offered a scholarship because of his military service. She wasn’t.

“As one of the people candidly expressed to me, I was not accepted because I'm a military spouse,” shared Neal. The school official shared that she was not selected because she “could possibly move.” Although her active-duty husband was just as much of a flight risk, she was rejected.

Photo by ManuelTheLensman on Unsplash

Instead of being resigned, Neal took action and began asking around in 2024 to see how widespread discrimination on the basis of military status was. She found that she was not alone. More than 70% of the roughly 100 people she heard from felt like they had been discriminated against when seeking employment. That mirrored both anecdotal reports and official research.

Although many states offer legal protections that could theoretically prevent discrimination on the basis of marital status – aka marriage to someone in the military – military spouses may not want to take on a costly legal battle to argue their way to fair employment opportunities. So, if existing protections haven’t prevented discrimination, why bother adding military-connected status as a protected class?

Neal’s personal investigation into this issue showed that these legal protections could provide “cover” for employers who wanted to offer military spouses special hiring priority. With these added legal protections Neal believes employers would have the freedom to be more proactive in their decisions to hire military spouses, something that may offset existing discrimination.

And there is a precedent for making military status a protected class. During COVID, veteran unemployment was at 11 percent, slightly lower than the national average of 15 percent. As of December 2024, it was just 2.8 percent. This did not happen accidentally. Veterans have made strides in overcoming employment barriers and discrimination as a direct result of concerted efforts to educate and incentivize employers to hire them.

“We really got ahead of veteran unemployment through protection, preference and incentive,” said Olivia Burley, Washington State’s Military Spouse Liaison and veteran military spouse. Burley said that in order for legal protections to work as intended, they must be accompanied by increasing preferential hiring through a partnership with and incentives for the private sector.

“We have not offered military spouses those three points,” Burley shared.

January Dinner Table Conversation Summary

*Please note this summary is not part of the article summarized below.

The discussion during the January call covered a range of topics impacting the military community. Participants shared their struggles with the TRICARE West transition, including long wait times, difficulties getting providers to accept the new coverage, and the impact on families receiving critical services. The group also discussed the broader impact of recent policy changes, such as the changes to fertility treatment coverage, and the immense stress it has caused for military families. A foreign-born military spouse shared her observations and the fears and stress around immigration status and policies impacting her and other foreign-born spouses. The group acknowledged the need for greater support and advocacy for foreign-born military spouses. Participants expressed concerns about the effect these changes could have on recruitment, retention, and readiness within the military.

"It's attacking my family,” one active duty participant shared of how she feels about recent policy changes. “I don't know if I'm coming or going. How can I go back and tell family members and friends to join with all of this?"

Overall, participants wanted to focus on the emotional toll of the current environment, discussing the overwhelming nature of the constant changes and disruptions. They shared coping strategies, such as watching mindless videos, reading and turning off their phones and connecting with others, as ways to manage the stress. Other solutions focused on the need for advocacy and reliable resources to support military families. Participants discussed the role of nonprofit organizations, who many observed were currently less vocal about their current concerns. Their hope was that these organizations would find a way to cut through the noise to ensure families have access to the information and assistance they require.

The reason I’m not going into specifics is because. Multiple people cried. Active duty members shared raw concerns that make me concerned that if they were to be shared in detail they could cost them their jobs. That is why I’m not planning on sharing the video for this call.

We all need to find places where we can share safely and I am so honored that our January call offered that for those who joined.

Go Beyond the Article - Military Spouse Legal Rights

Want to learn more about the work military spouses are pursuing to add legal protections for military spouses?

“We are now living in a two-income economy, said Olivia Burley, Washington State’s Military Spouse Liaison and veteran military spouse. “We have to start paying our military members what it takes to make the sacrifice to have so your spouse probably is not going to have consistent, ongoing income. And I know that that is not the conversation that DOD and the federal government and our service branch headquarters want to hear.” Burley also cautions military spouses to remember that despite the very best of intentions some issues related to military spouse employment are unsolveable.

As Reported by Military Dinner Table Conversation Guests

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