Metra Receives 2025 HIRE Vets Medallion Award

The U.S. Department of Labor recognized Metra, the primary commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area, as a recipient of the 2025 HIRE Vets Medallion Award. The Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing American Military Veterans Act (HIRE Vets Act) Medallion Award Program is the only federal award program that recognizes employers who successfully recruit, hire, and retain veterans. 

Following the medallion ceremony, Avi Grein, chief human resource officer for Metra, participated in a roundtable discussion with other medallion recipients highlighting successful programs for bringing veterans into the workforce. 

Metra has shown a commitment to hiring veterans. In 2025, CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski remarked, “Metra has strong ties to our nation’s armed forces, with more than 300 veterans and reservists currently at work on our railroad.” Derwinski is a veteran of the U.S. Navy. 

The agency also works to ensure that veterans have a long-term career and growth plan that uses the diverse skills they acquired through their military service. One such opportunity is the Metra Apprenticeship program, approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for use of GI Bill benefits. 

Apprenticeship programs are an opportunity to learn a trade while actively working and receiving a percentage of a full journeyman’s wage (which increases over the period of the apprenticeship). VA education benefits, including the Post-9/11 GI Bill, are available to veterans while completing apprenticeships. 

Recipients of the 2025 HIRE Vets Medallion Award met rigorous employment and veteran integration assistance criteria, including veteran hiring and retention percentages, availability of veteran-specific resources, leadership programming for veterans, dedicated human resource efforts, and pay compensation and tuition assistance programs for veterans. 

More information about the program and the application process is available at HIREVets.gov.