serving our country while holding a job...

I completed my discussion topic this week on the armed forces.  I discussed the issues on whether organizations should pay their employees when they are deported or leave to serve their country.  I was curious to learn more about the USERRA.  USERRA stands for Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.   The USERRA was formed as a federal law.  The USERRA is enforced to “ensure that persons who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard or other “uniformed services:” are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their service; are promptly reemployed in their civilian jobs upon their return from duty; and are not discriminated against in employment based on past, present, or future military service.” (esgr.org)  A poster has been created by the US Department of Labor/Veterans’ Employment and Training Service to show the requirements necessary in the workplace.  I wanted to find out more about when and USERRA is the latest law in a protective act called the Selective Training and Service Act.  The Selective Training and Service Act started in the 1940’s.  It became an official law on October 13, 1994.  USERRA is an affective law to help those serving our country, have an equal work experience.   I learned that to be qualified to receive the benefits from USERRA you,

• must hold or have applied for a civilian job. (Note: Jobs employers can show to be held for a brief, nonrecurring period with no reasonable expectation of continuing for a significant period do not qualify for protection.)
• must have given written or verbal notice to the civilian employer prior to leaving the job for military training or service except when precluded by military necessity.
• must not have exceeded the 5-year cumulative limit on periods of service.
• must have been released from service under conditions other than dishonorable.
• must report back to the civilian job in a timely manner or submit a timely application for reemployment.

When deciding what to do with our employees who are also service men/woman, we must remember exactly what these are doing while they are away. The armed services do pay their service men for their time while serving; however many times this pay is not as equivalent to the pay they would have earned working a regular full time job.  This is where the USERRA comes in handy.  The USERRA makes sure that service men and women are treated fairly and equally.