St. Edward, Eads Furniture are semifinalists for national freedom award

St. Edward Mercy Health System of Fort Smith and Eads Brothers Furniture of Fort Smith were among just three of 16 Arkansas companies to be selected as semifinalists for the 2010 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

The Hampton School District was the other Arkansas selection.

The three Arkansas employers are among 130 semifinalists from across the nation, selected from more than 2,500 nominations submitted by Guard and Reserve members or their families for outstanding employer support, according to a statement from the Department of Defense.

The award is the U.S. Government’s highest recognition given to employers for exceptional support of their employees serving in the Guard and Reserve. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the award which was instituted in 1996 under then Secretary of Defense William Perry. Nominations for the 2010 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award were accepted from November 2009 through mid-January 2010.
 
Examples of semifinalists support for their Guard and Reserve employees include providing the difference between military and civilian salary during deployments, continuation of full benefits, care packages and even family support to employees fulfilling their military obligation.

From this field, a national review board will now select 30 finalists for the award. A national selection board comprised of senior defense officials, business leaders and prior Freedom Award recipients, representing small business, large business and public sector employers, will then select the 15 recipients for the 2010 Freedom Award. The Department of Defense will announce the 2010 finalists in May and the award recipients in early summer.