Hiring Tools and Information

Military Leave Guidelines

• Anti-Discrimination: USERRA contains quite stringent anti-discrimination provisions. Simply put, you may not discriminate against employees that serve in the military.

• Pay: Generally speaking, employers are not required to pay employees during military leave. However, salaried, exempt employees who work a portion of a work week before being called to duty must receive their full salary, less any military pay, for that week.

  Although all employees can choose to use any accrued leave (i.e., vacation) during their military service, employers cannot require employees to do so.

• Health Insurance: If you have a health plan, you must offer continuous coverage for up to 18 months to employees on military leave. You may not require employees absent for less than 31 days to pay more than the employee share for the coverage. However, you may not require employees who serve 31 days or more to pay up to 102 percent of the plan's full premium.

  In addition, if after 18 months of leave you terminate an employee's coverage, you may not impose an exclusion or waiting period upon reinstating coverage after reemployment. This applies to both the employee and any dependents covered under the plan.

• Maximum Length of Service: Employees may serve up to five years before losing their reemployment rights. Also, some circumstances expand this time period, such as, when an employee's active duty is involuntarily extended by the government.

• Reemployment: You may promptly reemploy employees to their former position, or if they would have attained a promotion if continuously employed, to that new position.

• Reapplication Deadlines: Following their military service, employees must apply to return to work within specific deadlines based upon the length of their service.

  Employees serving fewer than 31 days (or on leave for the purpose of taking an examination to determine fitness for service) must report by the beginning of the first regularly scheduled work period on the first full calendar day after the employee has been home for eight hours. The eight-hour period does not start until after the employee has had the opportunity to travel from the place of service to the employee's residence.

  Employees serving more than 30 days but less than 181 days must notify their employer no later then 14 days after their service.

  Employees serving more than 180 days must notify their employer no later than 90 days after their service.

• Terminations: Following reinstatement, employees that serve in the military for more than 180 days cannot be discharged without cause within one year of their reemployment. Employees that have served more than 30 days, but less than 181 days, cannot be discharged without cause for 180 days.