Written on August 20, 2010 at 8:30 am by

Family Focus: Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act

Filed under DoD News {one comment}

By Maj. Scott Hodges, chief, Air Force Legal Assistance Program

Since 9/11, Reserve and National Guard servicemembers saw a dramatic increase in their mobilization and deployment. As citizen-warriors, these Guard and Reserve military members have other jobs to worry about, their civilian jobs. So what happens to those civilian jobs after members gets back from a six-month or yearlong deployment?

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) is a federal statute that protects the jobs of servicemembers and veterans. Specifically, USERRA requires private employers to put individuals back into their civilian jobs after they return from a mobilization, regardless of whether the mobilization was voluntary or involuntary. In fact, former employers must also give servicemembers the benefits and seniority they would have received if they had not been activated.

USERRA also protects servicemembers from discrimination in the workplace based on their military status. For example, an Army Reservist named Vincent Staub was fired from his civilian job in 2004, and he argued that his employer fired him because they knew he was in the Reserves, and therefore subject to long periods of absence. He sued his employer and originally won, but the decision was overruled by an appellate court. For the first time, a USERRA case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. In April, the highest court in the land agreed to hear Vincent Staub’s case.

If you believe your rights have been violated you should file an official complaint with the Department of Labor. You can reach them at 1-866-4-USA-DOL, or http://www.dol.gov/vets.

The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve may also be able to help, and they have some good information on their website: http://www.esgr.org.

You can also contact your local legal assistance attorney by visiting the AF assistance website and viewing the legal services locator: https://aflegalassistance.law.af.mil.

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  • Smoco

    I am pleading with the DoD, please take a look at the Ceridian contract. They host the Military OneSource (MOS) program. Ceridan is not an effective contractor for the MOS program. The contract is flawed. Our servicemen and women don't get the attention they deserve when they call the three call centers (VA, PA, FL). Employees are constantly reminded not to engage in lengthy conversations with callers. An employee is reprimanded should he or she engage in conversations more than 5 mins for work life calls (counseling assessment calls also have time limits). Not all counseling assessments are conducted by licensed counselors as indicated in the contract.

    DoD I ask you, our servicemen and women protect our country everyday, they keep us safe with no time limit(s), and yet Ceridian places time limits (time an employee is allowed to spend on the phone with a serviceman/woman) in providing the necessary resources to our servicemen and women?

    In closing I'll present a scenario: a soldier contacts the call center, wants to talk to a counselor about a mental health issue, for example depression, anxiety, etc, but does not want a referral to see a mental health therapist. One of two things will happen: the MOS counselor may decline to talk to him/her because the MOS counselor will indicate he/she is not there to talk, they are there to refer the soldiers to a mental health counselor and to 'bill' for that referral; secondarily if a MOS counselor decides to talk to the soldier, the conversation is very brief, not much time is spent to assist the soldier. Is this how we should treat our servicemen, and women?

    The main goal of Ceridian is the call volume, how many calls come into all three centers rather than great customer service to our military men and women who deserves to be listened to, no matter what their concern is.

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