With Memorial Day coming up next Monday I thought it appropriate to touch on Military Leave Laws and Veteran Discrimination.
A law known as the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) protects the rights of military service members to take a leave of absence to take a leave of absence from their civilian jobs for active military service and to return to their jobs with accrued seniority and other protections.
Some of the core protections include (a couple of nice overviews are here and here):
- Protection against discrimination with prior, current or even possibly future military service;
- Protection against retaliation for trying to enforce USERRA;
- Reemployment rights upon return from military service including certain protections from discharge;
- Continuation of benefits that are based upon seniority or length of employee service;
- Certain preservation of other benefits while absent and upon return of service.
However, as the Employment Advisory blog points out about a recent 11th Circuit decision involving USERRA, the rights of the military service members do have their limits.
Employers are required to provide notice to persons entitled to the rights and benefits under USERRA. In Iowa you can find information on how to obtain your USERRA poster by going to the Iowa Workforce Development Web site.