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UNIFORMED SERVICES EMPLOYMENT AND
REEMPLOYMENT RIGHTS ACT

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Web site, Uniformed Services Employment and
Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)

was signed on October 13, 1994, and applies to persons who perform duty, voluntarily
or involuntarily, in the “uniformed services,” which include the Army, Navy, Marine
Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Public Health Service commissioned corps, as well
as the reserve components of each of these services. Federal training or service in the
Army National Guard and Air National Guard also gives rise to rights under USERRA.
In addition, under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act of 2002,
certain disaster response work (and authorized training for such work) is considered
“service in the uniformed services.”
Uniformed service includes active duty, active duty for training, inactive duty
training (such as drills), initial active duty training, and funeral honors duty performed
by National Guard and reserve members, as well as the period for which a person is
absent from a position of employment for the purpose of an examination to determine
fitness to perform any such duty. USERRA covers nearly all employees, including part-
time and probationary employees and applies to virtually all U.S. employers, regardless
of size. The pre-service employer must reemploy service members returning from a
period of service in the uniformed services if those service members meet five criteria:
● The person must have held a civilian job;
● The person must have given notice to the employer that he or she was leaving the
job for service in the uniformed services, unless giving notice was precluded by
military necessity or otherwise impossible or unreasonable;
● The cumulative period of service must not have exceeded five years;
● The person must not have been released from service under dishonorable or other
punitive conditions; and
● The person must have reported back to the civilian job in a timely manner or have
submitted a timely application for reemployment.
USERRA establishes a five-year cumulative total on military service with a single
employer, with certain exceptions allowed for situations such as call-ups during
emergencies, reserve drills, and annually scheduled active duty for training.
Employers are required to provide to persons entitled to the rights and benefits
under USERRA a notice of the rights, benefits, and obligations of such persons and such
employers under USERRA. USERRA also allows an employee to complete an initial
period of active duty that exceeds five years (e.g., enlistees in the Navy’s nuclear power
program are required to serve six years).
Under USERRA, restoration rights are based on the duration of military service
rather than the type of military duty performed (e.g., active duty for training or inactive

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