labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Under the recent USERRA regulations, members of the Navy, Air Force or Army Reserve and veterans, have the right to have their civilian jobs protected for a period of up to five years if they are called to serve. The Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, also known as VETS, is the division of the US Department of Labor that can assist people covered by the regulations if they make a claim under the USERRA regulations.

As an employer, this is an appropriate time to update your New Jersey USERRA poster with the final USERRA regulation being released by the Dept of Labor recently. It is important that you are displaying the most up to date information for employees to read.

It is also important that you ensure that you, as an employer, fully understand the new regulations as they provide important clarification of the rights of employees serving in the military.

One area that may have caused confusion in the past is the regulation that refers to the period of time that an employer should hold open a veterans civilian job. Briefly the new regulations are as follows:

An employer must rehire the veteran after up to 5 years, depending upon the length of service.

On returning to their civilian jobs, most employees are entitled to the same benefits that they would have received if they had not gone away from their job. These include cost of living and annual pay rises, as well as promotions relating to length of service.

The five year period that the employee is away is cumulative. If an employee is away for two years, and then three years, they are still entitled to have their job protected for both cases.

Periodic absences due to National Guard or Reserve training are not included in the five year period of absence.

There may be exemptions to these regulations, and it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of these.

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