§ 13. Major Sir Jocelyn Lucasasked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that Service men and women discharged before August, 1944, and re-directed to war work have no rights of reinstatement to their pre-war job; and will he take steps to remedy this situation in view of the fact that it affects over 400,000 persons.
§ Mr. IsaacsMy hon. Friend appears to have been misinformed in this matter. As the explanation is rather long, I will, with permission, circulate a statement in the Official Report.
§ Following is the statement:
§ The Reinstatement in Civil Employment Act, 1944, provides that war service can be continued by the performance of civilian work in consequence of a direction or written request made by me or on my behalf. Furthermore, under Section 13 (1) of the Act, where the war service of a person ended within the period 1st February, 1944, to 31st July, 1944, both dates inclusive, it is treated as having ended on 1st August, 1944, the date when the Act came into force. Such persons 905 could therefore exercise any rights they had to reinstatement on or immediately after 1st August.
§ Accordingly, persons whose war service ended before 1st February, 1944, may have rights under the Act if their war service was continued beyond that date by direction or written request in the way I have described. If their war service was not so continued they may have had rights to reinstatement under earlier Acts which they could have exercised when their war service ended.
§ Note.—The earlier Acts which gave rights of reinstatement in their pre-Service employment to persons called up or called out for service with the Armed Forces were the Reserve and Auxiliary Forces Act, the Military Training Act, and the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, all passed in 1939.