Guard and Reserve
July 10, 2005
Q:
My top salesman is in the National Guard and has been called to Iraq. Do I
have any continuing responsibilities to him? I will need to fill his job
quickly once he goes. -- Allison, Arizona
A: Small business owners
typically run a tight ship. They are fairly close with the people they work
with, and there is little room for big changes. Yet having a key employee be
called up for military duty is indeed a big change. And with the country engaged
in a war with no clear end in sight, it is an issue more and more small
businesses are facing.
So just what are you required to do in that situation?
The relevant law in question is the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) enacted by Congress in 1994 and signed into law by President Clinton during is first term.
The idea behind the law is to “minimize the disruption to the lives of persons performing service in the uniformed services as well as to their employers, their fellow employees, and their communities, by providing for the prompt reemployment of such persons upon their completion of such service.”
So the purpose of the law is to ensure that members of the armed forces, including part-time reservists, have the ability to return to their jobs after their service is completed. The law requires that they be reinstated with the status, seniority, and same rate of pay they would have obtained had they stayed continuously employed.
But the law also requires that you do more than just re-hire a member of the armed services once he or she returns home from duty. Other relevant portions of the law include:
You cannot discriminate when hiring, promoting, or retaining on the basis of someone’s present or future membership in the armed services.
When employees are called up, they do not need to ask your permission. Instead, they simply must give the employer written or verbal notice of their upcoming departure date. If they fail to give such notice, the reemployment requirements of the law are void as to that employee.
You cannot make an employee use sick leave or vacation time for military leaves of absence.
For a period of service between 31-180 days, the employee must apply for reemployment within 14 days upon being released from their military duty. Following a period of service of 181 days or more, the employee has 90 days to request reemployment.
There is a five year limit on the amount of time they remain eligible for reemployment.
If the employee asks you to do so, you must retain his or her health insurance for up to 18 months after he or she leaves, although the employee is required to pay the premium.
Finally, the time that the employee is gone cannot be considered a break in employment for retirement or pension purposes.
These requirements are the minimum you must do. You certainly can do more if you so choose.
In fact, the
National Committee of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve wants you to do
more. It honors businesses whose policies support their employees’ participation
in the National Guard and Reserve. The “Secretary of Defense Employer Support
Freedom Award” honors employers who provide exceptional support to employees who
are in the National Guard and Reserve.
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Today’s tip: To learn more about what you are, and are not, required to do under this law, visit the website of the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve - www.esgr.org.
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