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Military Leave / USERRA

6th Circuit: Vets can waive USERRA rights

07/08/2010
Until now, it wasn’t clear whether employers could ask employees returning from military service to waive their re-employment rights under USERRA. Now a ruling from the federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has offered guidance for employers that want to provide severance payments in lieu of re-employment.

How should we handle pay for employee who will be out two weeks on National Guard duty?

06/09/2010
Q. One of our full-time employees has just informed us that he will be on two weeks of National Guard duty soon. He will be absent from work to attend an annual encampment in a reserve branch of the armed forces. What are our legal obligations concerning pay to this employee?

Can we refuse to hire member of National Guard because she lacks weekend scheduling flexibility?

05/14/2010
Q. Can we refuse to hire a qualified applicant who has told us her National Guard duty conflicts with some of the weekends she would be required to work? Employees in this job bid for rotating scheduled weekends under a union contract seniority system. The applicant’s schedule for Guard duty is not flexible.

USERRA retaliation rules mirror those in Title VII

04/19/2010
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act provides job protection for employees who serve in the military and prohibits retaliation against anyone—including co-workers—who participates in an investigation or proceeding to enforce the law. But petty aggravations aren’t retaliatory.

Can we force employees to use vacation days as part of military leave?

04/15/2010
Q. We provide unpaid leave to employees who are called up to serve in the armed forces, in accordance with the terms and conditions the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). May we require employees to concurrently exhaust any earned but unused vacation that they may have accumulated?

Employee out on military leave: Must we pay him?

03/24/2010

Q. We have an employee who will soon go on temporary military duty and be gone for several weeks. Do we have to pay him at all during his absence, or does he receive military pay?

After military leave, does employee get across-the-board raise instituted while he was gone?

03/12/2010

Q. Last month we reinstated an employee who was on military leave for six months. It’s the same position, with the same pay he received before he went on military leave. Effective Jan. 1, 2010, all employees in his department received a 4% pay raise in recognition for their hard work in 2009. Does the law require us to pay him at this increased rate?

Employee out on military leave: Must we pay him?

03/11/2010

Q. We have an employee who will soon go on temporary military duty soon and be gone for several weeks. Do we have to pay him at all during his absence, or does he receive military pay?

Vets entitled to same job, not necessarily same location

02/09/2010

Employees who are called to active military service have certain job protections, including the right to return to their old or similar jobs. But those rights have limits. The law doesn’t require reinstating a veteran to her old job at the same facility where she worked before if the employer no longer has jobs there.

2009 in labor and employment law, from A to Z

01/05/2010

Our friends at the law firm of Fisher & Phillips LLP recently published this entertaining look at the employment law year that was. From A (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) to Z (zealously), 2009 was a busy year for those who track employment law trends.