labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Veterans returning from military service to the work world have a series of protections that guarantee their old jobs back, with all of the seniority, pay increases, and other benefits they would have received if they had never left.

All of the guarantees fall under USERRA, short for the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.

West Virginia USERRA posters should be updated at all workplaces to reflect the final USERRA regulations, issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, whether or not those workplaces employ service personnel. The latest regulations involve pension plan rights for returning veterans. USERRA in general is meant to protect the returning veteran and guarantee enforcement. It applies to National Guard and Reserve members as well.

All of the rights can be described under what is called the “escalator principle,” which essentially says that employees returning from military service are entitled to be reemployed with all the seniority, status and pay increases that would have come to them had they never left.

To understand the principle, imagine an escalator. An employee’s job position, with its continuing increases in pay, seniority, and other benefits, is like a step on the escalator. If that employee must leave the escalator to serve in the military, he or she is entitled to return to the same step – even though that step has advanced upward during the period of absence.

These rights are guaranteed for veterans returning after absences of up to 5 years. Some injured veterans are covered for another 2 years.

A military leave is treated under this law like other leaves of absence. The worker serving in the military is guaranteed the same benefits awarded to those, for example, who are on temporary disability or maternity leave.

Rights to retraining are guaranteed. Often, during a long military absence, the skills of a job evolve in a changing marketplace. According to the USERRA, employers must retrain returning veterans so that their skills qualify them for reemployment. If that is not possible, the employee is entitled to reemployment in another position.

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