labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Whether it’s seniority status, promotions, or pay, you as a veteran coming home from active duty are entitled to them when you return to your old job. The law, in fact, requires that employers reemploy you when you return. What’s more, if your skills have lagged behind the times in your absence, your old employer must retrain you. If that’s not possible, you’re entitled to reemployment I another position.

These guarantees are all part of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 – USERRA, for short. It outlines the regulations and enforces those rules on behalf of veterans, National Guard members, and members of the Reserve.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued final USERRA regulations recently. The latest regulations apply to pension plans for returning veterans.

Employers must by law update their Florida USERRA posters to reflect new changes so those changes are on display for all workers. Florida USERRA posters must be displayed whether or not an employer’s workforce includes veterans.

Under what is called the “escalator principle,” you as a returning veteran have the right to be reinstated to your old job if your military service was 5 or fewer years. The years need not have been served consecutively. Some veterans who were injured are eligible for up to 7 years.

Reinstatement must come with the pay hikes, status, and seniority that would have been yours if you had never left for military duty. That includes promotions. Employers must upgrade your skills or reemploy you in an alternative job slot.  It’s as if you had been on leave for disability, or on maternity leave. You are entitled to the same benefits that would be extended under those conditions.

Why is it called the “escalator principle”? Imagine your career, with its advancements and increasing benefits, as an escalator ride. If you must “get off” the escalator to serve in the military, you are entitled to return to the same ‘step” on the escalator, even though it had advanced upward.

Last 10 posts by Amelia

• Colorado Reduces Minimum Wage in 2010 - November 20th, 2009
• New Law Expands FMLA and NDAA for Military Families - October 30th, 2009
• California Approves Exempt Salary Reduction - October 16th, 2009
• 3 New Illinois Laws - October 9th, 2009
• New Definition of Disability - September 25th, 2009
• E-Verify Regulations - September 18th, 2009
• New USERRA Regulations - September 2nd, 2009
• E-Verify News - August 26th, 2009
• New Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Law - August 19th, 2009
• Louisiana Minimum Wage - August 3rd, 2009