What does USERRA require employers to do for employees serving in the military?

Have veterans as part of your workforce? There are excellent resources out there for employers. The US Dept of Labor, for instance, has an entire toolkit on veterans employment issues. There’s even a page from the Connecticut Department of Labor, which urges employers to consider veterans when hiring.

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act

The flagship veteran employment law is USERRA, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The DOL has a separate site that explains how USERRA works. If you don’t have time for that, here are some main takeaways.

Anyone who pays wages for work or controls job opportunities is an “employer” under the law. No exemption for small employers; charities are covered; state and local governments aren’t exempt either. That leaves a lot of employers subject to the law.

It applies to anyone employed by a covered business. The same goes for US citizens, nationals, permanent residents if they work outside the US for a US employer. Employees can also be seasonal, temporary, on probation, or part-time.

Picture someone hired for a one-off job: if it doesn’t lead to later work, it may fall outside of the statute. Important note: This only affects reemployment.

As for who counts as serving, those in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines aren’t alone. It reaches members of the Coast Guard, the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service, and any Air National Guard called up for federal training. The reserves of each branch are covered too.

Non-seniority Benefits

Benefits are a big part of the picture too. Non-seniority benefits are the ones a worker gets through their work or ones that hinge on some big event. A returning worker gets the same as what the employer would offer others who are on leave or furlough.

When it comes to seniority benefits, USERRA takes things a step further. Treat the person as if they’d never been gone. Also, if a missed promotion had hinged on some exam or test while the worker was absent, the employer has to give a reasonable chance after returning to get ready and prepare.

Maintaining group health insurance is a major concern. It’s like COBRA but not quite the same. It applies to every employer with a group plan, without the usual 20-employee threshold. One big difference is in costs. A worker should pay the regular employee share for the first 30 days. For service of 31 days or more, it rises to up to 102% of the premium. To qualify, they must have been enrolled when service started. The cap here is a total of 24 months from the start of service, or if there’s not going to be a return to work.

Get a Job Back with the Same Company After Being Away

To qualify, a service member must have left their civilian job to serve. They have to give advance notice to the employer. The total absence from the civilian employer must have been five years or less. Finally, they have to come back or apply on time, with no disqualifying discharge on the other end.

There’s not much wiggle room for saying no. It comes down to a few narrow scenarios.

One is a change in circumstances that would have affected the worker, like layoffs that took place while they were gone and that would have included them.

Another is a worker who’s no longer qualified for the position, despite the employer’s reasonable efforts. Finally, when the job was brief and non-recurring.

USERRA is a far more complex law than this brief summary does justice to. If you have employees, it’s well worth a spot in your policy and procedure manual. This is hardly the only law governing veterans employment or reemployment. State laws may have their own requirements.