Reemployment
As a returning service member, you may have the right to return to the job
you held before you were deployed. Under the Uniformed Services Employment and
Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), a person who leaves a civilian job to perform
military service (voluntarily or involuntarily) may be entitled to return to his
or her civilian job after discharge or release from his or her military obligation if
the service member meets basic eligibility criteria.
If certain eligibility criteria are met, USERRA requires that returning service members be reemployed in the job that
they would have attained had they not been absent for military service (the
"escalator" principle) with the same:
- seniority
- status
- pay
- other rights and benefits determined by seniority
USERRA requires that service members provide advance written or verbal
notice to their employers for all military duty unless giving notice is
impossible, unreasonable, or precluded by military necessity.
To be eligible for reemployment rights, an individual cannot have been absent from work for
military duty for a cumulative length of time exceeding five years. However, there are important
exceptions to the five-year limit, including initial enlistments lasting more
than five years, periodic National Guard and reserve training duty, and
involuntary active duty extensions and recalls, especially during a time of
national emergency.
An individual must also make an application for reemployment or
report back to work after military service within a period of time which is based on time spent on military
duty:
- For service of less than 31 days, the service member must return
at the beginning of the next regularly scheduled work period on the first
full day after release from service, taking into account safe travel home
plus an eight-hour rest period.
- For service of more than 30 days but less than 181 days, the
service member must submit an application for reemployment within 14 days of
release from service.
- For service of more than 180 days, an application for reemployment
must be submitted within 90 days of release from service.
Service members recovering from injuries received during service
or training may have up to two years to return to their jobs.
USERRA provides enhanced protection for disabled veterans, requiring
employers to make reasonable efforts to accommodate the disability. USERRA also
requires that reasonable efforts (such as training or retraining) be made to
enable returning service members to refresh or upgrade their skills to help them
qualify for reemployment.
More information on USERRA can be found in the
elaws USERRA Advisor. In addition, if you believe you have been denied
reemployment or not properly reinstated because of your uniformed service, you can file a complaint online
through this site. The Act itself can be found in the United States Code at
Chapter 43, Part III,
Title 38.
Furthermore, some states have state-specific reemployment rights laws that
provide further protections for service members. For questions regarding
state-specific reemployment rights legislation or for additional information on USERRA, please contact the Director for Veterans’ Employment and Training in
your state. For contact information and employment options,
please visit our state map and select your state.
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