Human Resource Blog

USERRA Five-Year Limit in Colorado

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Do all of our employees that leave work for the military have to serve less than five years in Colorado?

In many cases, employees can only serve up to five years when they take off of work in order to serve in the military. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act is the federal Act that helps to ensure that employees have rights when they return to work after serving in the military. However, according to the Act, employees need to follow the rules, which include limitations on the number of years that employees can serve and on the time that employees have to return to work after returning home from service.

Because the Act is a federal Act, it can certainly apply to employees in the state of Colorado as long as those employees held civilian jobs prior to taking time off of work for military service. Employees also need to ensure that when they take time off of work for service, they are not dishonorably discharged, if they wish to keep their USERRA coverage.

Employees should not serve more than five years if they want to stay covered by the Act. However, there are some exceptions to this rule, which may include the following:

·         Employees may be able to serve more than five years if the initial period of service lasted more than five years.

·         During times of a national emergency, the employees can usually be called back to service without penalty.

·         Employees should be granted extensions if they are involuntarily recalled or if their period of service is extended.

·         Employees can also have more time if part of the time that they have taken off is for reserve or National Guard training.

·         If an employee is injured or becomes disabled during service, the employee may be able to add up to two years to the amount of time that he or she gets off for service.

Employees need to be sure to return to work within a time period that is established based on the employee’s length of service as well. CB