518-373-4111
Q: We have a potential new employee who is in the National Guard. He let us know that he needs one weekend a month off and two weeks a year to serve. Can you let me know what our responsibility is as a company to support this employee if we should hire him?
A: If you are considering hiring employees in the military, it’s crucial to know that military status is a protected class and cannot be a factor in the selection of applicants or other terms and conditions of employment.
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (USERRA) protects the rights of applicants and employees who serve in the uniformed military services. It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate in hiring, reemployment, retention, promotion, or any benefit of employment due to a person’s military service or intent to apply for military service.
If you hire this employee, military leaves he takes will be protected under USERRA. Employers cannot refuse to allow employees to attend deployments, scheduled drills, or annual training. A returning service member is generally entitled to reemployment in the position the person would have been entitled to if the person had remained continuously employed. In other words, military leave time usually counts towards seniority and other time based employment perks.
USERRA does not typically require an employer to pay an employee who is on military leave. Employees who take an extended military leave of absence have rights under COBRA to continue benefits if they become ineligible for your plan due to an extended leave of absence.
In addition to the protected military leave, some employers offer extra time off after deployments, or other support to help their employees who serve in the armed forces. Although extended leaves may seem burdensome to an employer, employees with military service often bring a variety of benefits to the employer, such as extra job-related training.
Contact GTM today at (518) 373-4111 to learn how we help businesses with this and other HR issues.
