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Category Archives: Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act (USERRA)

Inner Workings Web Conference – February 23 – 11:30 CT

Posted by Kristen LaBuda on Posted in Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act (USERRA)

Deployment to Employment: Overview Of Military Veterans’ Employment Rights

Compliant employers must know what they have to do; savvy employers should also consider what more they should do.

An array of employment laws protect veterans and their families and incentivize employers to employ veterans. As thousands of troops continue to return home from all over the world to a struggling economy, are you prepared  to be compliant with all of these laws?  During this Web conference, we will discuss the basics and updates in USERRA, FMLA and ADAAA as these impact veterans’ rights, and we will offer some thoughts about the potential strategic benefits of making specific efforts to hire veterans.   

Click here to register.

Fifth Circuit Decides That Protection From a Hostile Work Environment Is Not a “Benefit of Employment” for Service Members Under USERRA

Posted by Theodore T. Eidukas on Posted in Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act (USERRA)

Members of the armed forces are generally protected from discrimination in their employment by civilian employers under the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). In addition to individual state laws that may protect service members, USERRA makes it illegal for an employer to deny a “benefit of employment” to a member of the armed forces based on such membership or the employee’s performance of service. Its primary purpose being to encourage people to join the military reserves, USERRA claims have increased in frequency during the past decade as reservists have been called to long stints of active duty due to U.S. military commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Employer Obligations Under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)

Posted by Bernard J. Bobber on Posted in Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act (USERRA)

Last week, President Obama announced the end of combat operations in Iraq. Although most of the 65,000 Americans serving there will either stay in Iraq into next year or be re-deployed, thousands will be returning to civilian life. Employers need to be mindful of the principal employment laws that protect the job rights of both the returning military personnel and their family members.

USERRA protects the rights of veterans to return to their civilian jobs. Employers must reemploy returning service members in the job that they would have attained had they not been absent for military service (the so-called “escalator” position), with the same seniority, status, and pay. USERRA also requires employers to make reasonable efforts to train or retrain returning service members to refresh or upgrade their skills to help them qualify for reemployment. If the individual cannot qualify for the “escalator” position, USERRA requires the employer to provide alternative reemployment positions. The Department of Labor has published “VETS USERRA Fact Sheet 3” and other information to help employers understand the reemployment rights of service members.

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