Matthew W. Lucas

703.821.5522

   The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) provides several rights/benefits for the employee.

• The employee cannot be discriminated against for serving in the military.
• The employee is entitled to reinstatement when he/she returns from service. This includes seniority, pension rights and benefits and the escalator principle.
• If the employer offers medical benefits, the option of continued benefits must be offered for up to 18 months. This is true for all employers, even companies too small to be required to comply with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).
• An employer is not required to keep a job open for more than five years.
• If the leave is more than 90 days, the employer can return the employee to a similar job, not the exact job he/she left.

• Employees seeking leave are required to give reasonable notice to the employer when called up. 
• The leave is unpaid. 
• When the military obligation is completed, employees have time limits, ranging up to 90 days (depending on length of service), to reapply for the previous jobs.  

• Certain types of service - wartime duty - are not included in the five-year limit on leave. 
• The deadlines for requesting reinstatement may be extended for up to two years if the employee is recuperating from an injury incurred while on duty. 
• If there is a disability due to an injury received during military service, the employer is required to offer a reasonable
  accommodation to help the employee return to his or her job.