USERRA provides employment, reemployment rights for all uniformed service members

Photo By Bert Blanchette | (Courtesy Photo)  

KEESLER AFB, MS, UNITED STATES

02.04.2018

Story by Senior Airman Nathaniel Byrnes 

403rd Wing

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- For most Reserve and National Guard members, deployments, for most, usually means getting drawn out of one’s civilian job for an extended period of time. The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve is a program that supports service members by assisting in the resolution of conflicts between employers and employee’s that arises from the employee's military commitment when the gets back after they have completed their service obligation.
ESGR is a Department of Defense program that develops and promotes supportive work environments for Service members in the Reserve Components through outreach, recognition, and educational opportunities that increase awareness of applicable laws, and resolves employment conflicts between the Service members and their employers
This program helps service members understand their rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994. USERRA is a federal law that establishes various rights and benefits for employees and applicants for employment who have served in the military or have engaged in other forms of protected governmental service. USERRA requires employers to provide leaves of absence and to re-employ workers who enter military service while employed.
“USERRA establishes the length of time that an individual may be absent from work for military duty and retain reemployment rights,” said Maj. Jed Wangsgard, 403rd Wing Judge Advocate deputy staff. “The service member has up to five years for reemployment however, there are some exceptions to the five-year limit, including initial enlistments lasting more than five years.”
This applies to all employers, regardless of size, and to all regular employees, regardless of position, length of service or full- or part-time status. It regulates leaves of absence taken by members of the uniformed services, including reservists, and by National Guard members for training, periods of active military service, as well as for time spent being examined to determine fitness to perform such service.
“USERRA clearly establishes that reemployment protection doesn’t depend on the timing, frequency, duration, or nature of an individual’s service as long as the basic eligibility criteria are met,” said Wangsgard. “However, if your military obligation is taking you away from your civilian job it is required to give advanced notice to your employer to apply for reemployment under USERRA. Even though you have to tell the employer you are leaving for service, you do not have to tell the employer that you plan to reapply for employment once you are back.”

USERRA provides four important benefits related to military leave:
• Protection from discrimination on the basis of military service.
• Protection from termination for a period after returning from service.
• The right to re-employment on conclusion of military service.
• Certain rights in connection with pensions and other employee benefits plans.
According to the Department of Veterans’ Services, employers must promptly reemploy the service member. Promptly meaning within days, not months. Generally the reemployment position should be the one the person would have attained had he or she remained continuously employed during the period of military service.
The nature of the position the returning employee is entitled to depends on the duration of the military service. Generally, after service of 90 days or less, the employee is entitled to return to the same position or the position he or she would have attained before taking a leave of absence to fulfill their military obligation. The returning employee is entitled to all pay increases, seniority increases and other benefits that would have been earned if it wasn’t for the absence.
For employees returning from leave longer than 90 days, employers may consider other positions that closely approximate the job employees would have held or attained in terms of seniority, status and pay.
Once applying for reemployment under USSERA there are important application steps that needs to be followed.
“For service 30 days or less, the service member has to report back to their employer the next regularly scheduled work period on the first full day after release from service, taking into account safe travel home and an eight hour rest period,” said Wangsgard. “If you are gone for 31 to 180 days, the service member must submit the application for reemployment within 14 days of the release of service. If gone for more than 180 days due to service related obligations, the application for reemployment must be submitted within 90 days from the release of service.
However, there are some exceptions that can disqualify a military member from asserting USERRA reemployment rights. The statute lists four circumstances:
• Separation from the service with a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge.
• Separation from the service under other than honorable conditions.
• Dismissal of a commissioned officer in certain situations involving a court martial or by order or by order of the President in time of war
• Dropping an individual from the rolls when the individual has been absent without authority for more than three months or is imprisoned by a civilian court
According to ESGR, USSERA doesn’t only protect reemployment rights but also protects service members from being denied initial employment, retention in employment, promotion, or any benefit of employment to an individual on the basis of his or her military service. Additionally, an employer cannot retaliate against an individual by taking any adverse employment action against him or her because the individual has taken an action to enforce a protection afforded any person under USERRA or exercised a right provided for by USERRA.
For more information about U.S. Department of Labor employment and training programs for veterans, contact the Veteran’s Employment and Training Service office nearest you, listed under the United States Government under the Labor Department or visit https://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/.

• Date Taken: 02.04.2018
• Date Posted: 02.04.2018 13:48
• Story ID: 264612
• Location: KEESLER AFB, MS, US