USERRA gives an employee the right to elect continued health insurance coverage, for themself and their dependents, during periods of military service. For periods of up to 30 days of training or service, the employer can require the person to pay only the normal employee share, if any, of the cost of such coverage. For longer tours, the employer is permitted to charge the person up to percent of the entire premium.
USERRA gives an employee and previously covered dependents the right to immediate reinstatement of civilian health insurance coverage upon return to the civilian job. The health plan cannot impose a waiting period and cannot exclude the returning employee based on preexisting conditions other than for those conditions determined by the Federal government to be service-connected.
If an employer offers other non-seniority benefits e. USERRA provides that, if the period of service was less than 91 days, the person is entitled to the job he or she would have attained absent the military service, provided the person is, or can become, qualified for that job. If unable to become qualified for a new job after reasonable efforts by the employer, the person is entitled to the job he or she left. For periods of service of 91 days or more, the employer may reemploy the returning employee as above i.
If a person has been gone from the civilian job for months or years, civilian job skills may have been dulled by a long period without use. A person must be or become qualified to do the job to have reemployment rights, but USERRA requires the employer to make "reasonable efforts" to qualify that person.
If a person can't become qualified after reasonable efforts by the employer, and if not disabled, the person must be employed in any other position of lesser status and pay, which they are qualified to perform, with full seniority.
USERRA also requires the employer to make "reasonable efforts" to accommodate persons with a disability incurred or aggravated during military service. If a person returns from military service and is suffering from a disability that cannot be accommodated by reasonable employer efforts, the employer must reemploy the person in some other position they are qualified to perform and which is the "nearest approximation" of the position to which the person is otherwise entitled, in terms of status and pay, with full seniority.
For example, if a person breaks a leg during annual training, the employer may have an obligation to make reasonable efforts to accommodate the broken leg, or to place the person in another position, until the leg has healed. July 21, Reuse Permissions. Page Content. Step 2: Review the Employee's Health Benefit Coverage If the employee is currently covered under the employer health insurance plan, the organization must make arrangements for continuing the coverage.
Employers are required to continue the health benefits as follows: Absences of 31 or more days. The employee may elect to continue coverage for up to 24 months or for the period of military service including the time period allowed to reapply for employment , whichever is shorter. Upon reinstatement, the employee must be reinstated immediately into the health plan without any waiting periods or pre-existing condition exclusions.
Absences of less than 31 days. The employee is entitled to coverage under the health benefits plan as if he or she were employed continuously. The employee continues to pay his or her regular premium. Supplemental or differential income Although they are not required to do so, employers may provide supplemental or differential income.
Step 4: Review Additional Employee Benefits Paid time off, vacation and sick leave Employers may allow, but may not require, employees to use their paid-time-off PTO or vacation benefits for military-related absences. Pension contributions Employees are entitled to all accrued pension benefits they would have received had they continued to be employed.
The following are the steps to take when the employee returns from military leave. Step 5: Determine if the Employee Is Entitled to Re-Employment Rights To be entitled to reinstatement, the following conditions must have been met: The employee gave the employer notice of the need for military leave.
The period of military service did not exceed five years. Note: Some types of duty do not count against this five-year limit. Employees with disabilities have two years after their return dates—for purposes of recuperation and convalescence—to seek re-employment. The employee was released under honorable conditions. The employee returned and applied for re-employment within the following time restrictions: Leaves of less than 31 days.
The employee must report to work on the first regularly scheduled work period following the completion of military service; no application is required. Leaves of more than 31 days but less than days. The employee must apply for reinstatement within 14 days after completion of military service. Leaves of more than days. The employee must apply for reinstatement no more than 90 days after completion of military service.
Supervisors may be aware of their obligations under Title VII, Voss noted, but they may not know that offhand comments about a service member's absences may lead to a discrimination claim. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Please enable scripts and reload this page. October 27, Reuse Permissions. Image Caption. Employers should consider factors such as: The employee's pre-military service performance.
How similarly situated performers advanced during the employee's period of military leave. Whether the service member is qualified for the escalator position or can become qualified through reasonable efforts by the employer. Service members are entitled to: Prompt reinstatement generally in a matter of days, rather than weeks. Accrued seniority including the rights and benefits that are determined by seniority as if they were continuously employed.
Training or retraining and other accommodations. Special protection against being fired for six months to a year depending on the length of service unless the termination is for cause. Additionally, employers must make reasonable efforts to accommodate a veteran's disability. HR's Role Employers should have a military leave policy, and HR practitioners should review how compensation and benefits rules apply to employees who are on military leave. The application should indicate that the employee is returning from service in the uniformed Services and that he or she seeks reemployment with the pre-service employer.
The employee is permitted but not required to identify a particular reemployment position in which he or she is interested. The types of documents necessary to establish eligibility for reemployment will vary from case to case. Not all of these documents are available or necessary in every instance to establish reemployment eligibility.
Yes, under USERRA, Service members are not required to provide documentation to prove an absence was due to uniformed service, unless that service is more than 30 days and the documentation is requested by the employer. However, per Department of Defense Instruction Employers may reach out to the employee's military chain of command to request this verification. The type of information about a Service member's uniformed service that can be released to third parties is outlined in DoD In section C4.
To review DOD Department of Defense Privacy Program, click here. The employee, or an appropriate officer of the uniformed Service in which his or her service is to be performed, must notify the employer that the employee intends to leave the employment position to perform military service. If the employee has more than one employer, each employer must be notified of the impending leave of absence due to military service.
The notice may be informal and does not need to follow any particular format. Although USERRA does not state how far in advance notice must be given to the employer, an employee should provide notice as far in advance as is reasonable under the circumstances. When the employee leaves the employment position to begin a period of service, he or she is not required to tell the civilian employer that he or she intends to seek reemployment after completing uniformed service.
Even if the employee tells the employer before entering or completing uniformed service that he or she does not intend to seek reemployment after completing the uniformed service, the employee does not forfeit the right to reemployment. The employee is not required to decide in advance of leaving the civilian employment position whether he or she will seek reemployment after completing uniformed service.
In general, the employee may perform service in the uniformed Services for a cumulative period of up to five 5 years, under the current statute, and retain reemployment rights with the employer.
If the employee performs service in the uniformed Service for fewer than 31 days, he or she cannot be required to pay more than the regular employee share, if any, for health plan coverage. Health plan administrators may develop reasonable procedures for payment, consistent with the terms of the plan.
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