Human Resource Blog

USERRA Coverage in Connecticut

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We have a few employees that just came on board who plan to serve in the reserves. Are they covered by USERRA in Connecticut and what do we need to know about the Act?

Yes – all employees in states across the country are covered by USERRA. USERRA stands for Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. It is a federal Act that was put into place by Congress on October 13, 1994 in order to replace the Veterans’ Reemployment Rights Act (VRRA).

USERRA prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and potential employees that are part of the uniformed services. The covered uniformed services include the U.S. Armed Forces, Public Health Service, National Guard, and also reservists. Thus, your employees that are planning to serve in the reserves are covered under the Act.

Also, the Act covers those employees that participate in certain areas of service, including the following:

• Voluntary or involuntary military duty
• Active or inactive military duty
• Active or inactive duty that may be required for training
• Initial active duty for training
• Full-time Guard duty

Employers are required to meet certain requirements under the Act. Those requirements include providing the employee with the same job or an equivalent job when he or she returns from service. In order for the employees to retain their USERRA coverage, they do have to meet some additional requirements, including the following:

• They need to have been honorably discharged from service, if they are discharged.
• If they leave their jobs to perform military service, they need to give the employer plenty of notice, when that notice is available.
• The employee must have a cumulative length of service that is equal to or less than five years.
• The reason for leaving must be to perform military service.
• The employee must not have held a temporary position prior to leaving and the employee must have had reason to believe that the employment would be ongoing.
• The employee must return to work within the predetermined time period after the military service. CB