labor lawAdivision of labor law center

The U.S. Department of Labor recently released the final North Dakota USERRA regulations. USERRA is the acronym of Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The 1994 law protects the rights of veterans and members of the National Guard and Reserve. In particular, the USERRA allows soldiers to return to their civilian jobs after up to 5 years of leave for military duty.

Under the USERRA, soldiers are entitled to the same job, salary and benefits as if they had not been absent. Several test cases have established that when promotions are given based on seniority, returning veterans are entitled to the promotion they would have received, had they never enrolled. They are also entitled to annual salary increases or cost-of-living increases that have occurred in their absence.

With the introduction of the final USERRA regulations, this is an excellent time for every employer to update his or her North Dakota USERRA poster. According to the Department of Labor, every company is requited to display the USERRA poster, even if the regulations don’t apply to any of their employees.

Recently, employees of the federal government were included in the list of those entitled to receive assistance from the Department of Labor, when they present claims related to USERRA. There is a division within the Department of Labor, known as the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service that assists veterans with claims related to the USERRA regulations.

Returning members of the armed forces including Army, Navy or Air Force Reserve members have a 5-year period of protection for their civilian jobs. In general, the regulations state that a soldier may take a total of 5 years away from work for active duty, and still return to their civilian job. For example, a soldier who was on active duty for 3 years could go on active duty another 2 years at a later date, and still have his or her job protected.

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