Getting Your Job Back After Military Service (USERRA) — In Plain Words

This page is general information only. It is not legal advice.

What this page covers

This page covers returning to a civilian job after military service. It is based on one page from the U.S. Department of Labor: the elaws Veterans' Employment and Career Transition Advisor “Reemployment” page, about the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).

This page does not decide any one person's case. It prints what that page states, in plain words, and it does not promise any reader a job back.

Cross-reference, in plain text only: This program also has a built page titled “FMLA — Who Qualifies and What Leave It Gives — In Plain Words.” That page covers a different law. It is not the law on this page.

The basic idea, as the page states it

As a returning service member, you may have the right to return to the job you held before you were deployed.

Under USERRA, a person who leaves a civilian job to perform military service, voluntarily or involuntarily, may be entitled to return to that civilian job after discharge or release from his or her military obligation if the service member meets basic eligibility criteria.

That wording matters: the page says a person may be entitled if the criteria are met. It does not say every reader is entitled.

The job you come back to: the “escalator” principle

If certain eligibility criteria are met, USERRA requires that returning service members be reemployed in the job that they would have attained had they not been absent for military service. The page calls this the “escalator” principle.

That job comes with the same:

• Seniority
• Status
• Pay
• Other rights and benefits determined by seniority

Tell your employer before you go: advance notice

USERRA requires that service members provide advance written or verbal notice to their employers for all military duty unless giving notice is impossible, unreasonable, or precluded by military necessity.

In plain words: notice can be written or spoken, and the page names three reasons notice may not be required — it is impossible, it is unreasonable, or military necessity precludes it.

The five-year limit

To be eligible for reemployment rights, an individual cannot have been absent from work for military duty for a cumulative length of time exceeding five years.

However, there are important exceptions to the five-year limit, including:

• Initial enlistments lasting more than five years
• Periodic National Guard and Reserve training duty
• Involuntary active duty extensions and recalls, especially during a time of national emergency

When to report back or apply, by length of service

An individual must also make an application for reemployment or report back to work after military service within a period of time which is based on time spent on military duty:

• For service of less than 31 days, the service member must return at the beginning of the next regularly scheduled work period on the first full day after release from service, taking into account safe travel home plus an eight-hour rest period.
• For service of more than 30 days but less than 181 days, the service member must submit an application for reemployment within 14 days of release from service.
• For service of more than 180 days, an application for reemployment must be submitted within 90 days of release from service.

If you are recovering from an injury

Service members recovering from injuries received during service or training may have up to two years to return to their jobs.

Disability and skills help

USERRA provides enhanced protection for disabled veterans, requiring employers to make reasonable efforts to accommodate the disability.

USERRA also requires that reasonable efforts (such as training or retraining) be made to enable returning service members to refresh or upgrade their skills to help them qualify for reemployment.

What this page's source does not cover

This page's source does not cover whether military service leave is paid. This page states nothing about leave pay beyond that limit.

If you believe you were denied reemployment

More information on USERRA can be found in the elaws USERRA Advisor. The page names that Advisor as the next step for more information.

In addition, if you believe you have been denied reemployment or not properly reinstated because of your uniformed service, you can file a complaint online through this site — the elaws / VETS channel named on the page.

The Act itself can be found in the United States Code at Title 38, Part III, Chapter 43 (38 U.S.C., Title 38, Part III, Chapter 43).

Furthermore, some states have state-specific reemployment rights laws that provide further protections for service members. This page names that fact only. It does not state any one state's rule.

This page is general information only. It is not legal advice.