Below are answers to a few questions relating to USERRA leave. You can read more questions and answers about USERRA at the web site of the National Committee for the Support of the Guard and Reserve: http://www.esgr.org/employers2/employerFAQ.asp

1. Am I required to pay the employee for the period that he or she is away from work performing military training or service?

USERRA does not require an employer to pay an individual for time not worked due to service. Another Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6323) gives Federal civilian employees the right to 120 hours per fiscal year of paid military leave. About 40 states have similar laws for state and local government employees.

2. Is the employee entitled to other benefits of employment while away from work performing service?

If and to the extent that you provide benefits to employees who have been furloughed (laid off) or to employees on some kind of non-military leave (jury leave, educational leave, etc.), you must provide similar benefits to employees who are away from work performing service in the uniformed services.

An employee who is away from work performing service in the uniformed services is entitled to elect continued health plan coverage through the civilian job. If the period of service is less than 31 days, you are permitted to charge the employee only the employee share (if any) of the cost of the coverage. If the period of service is 31 days or more, you are permitted (but not required) to charge the employee up to 102% of the entire premium, including the part that the employer normally pays in the case of active employees.

3. After a period of military training or service, how quickly is the employee required to return to work?

That depends upon the duration of the period of service from which the employee is returning. If the period of service is less than 31 days, the employee is required to report for work "not later than the beginning of the first regularly scheduled work period on the first full calendar day following the completion of the period of service and the expiration of eight hours after a period allowing for the safe transportation of the person from the place of that service to the person's residence." If reporting at that time is impossible or unreasonable through no fault of such person (e.g., automobile accident on return trip), the employee is required to report for work as soon as possible thereafter.

If the period of service was 31-180 days, the employee is required to submit an application for reemployment within 14 days after the end of the period of service. If the period of service was 181 days or more, the individual must submit the application for reemployment within 90 days. These deadlines can be extended by up to two years if the individual is hospitalized or convalescing for a service-connected injury or illness.

4. If the employee is one day late in reporting for work or submitting an application for reemployment, does he or she lose the right to the job?

Not necessarily. "A person who fails to report or apply for employment or reemployment within the appropriate period specified in this subsection shall not automatically forfeit such person's entitlement to the rights and benefits provided in subsection (a) but shall be subject to the conduct rules, established policy, and general practices of the employer pertaining to explanations and discipline with respect to absence from scheduled work." If the employee was one day late in reporting back to work, and if your usual sanction for one day of unexcused absence is a two-week suspension without pay, the employee would be entitled to the job but would be subject to the two-week suspension.

5. How quickly am I required to put the returning employee back to work?

If the period of service was less than 31 days, and if the person shows up for work at 8 a.m. on the next workday, he or she must be put back on the payroll immediately. If the period of service was 31 days or more, you are required to act promptly upon the application for reemployment. This should be a matter of days, not weeks or months.

6. The manager of an important facility was called to active duty more than a year ago. I filled the position, and the new manager has worked out great. Reinstating the returning reservist would mean displacing one of the best managers I have ever had, and that would cause great disruption. Am I required to reinstate the returning reservist?

Yes. The right to reemployment is not contingent upon the existence of a vacancy. Sometimes it is necessary to displace another employee in order to reemploy the returning veteran. Congress recognized that this law imposes burdens on employers, and that sometimes those burdens can be severe. Congress decided that imposing such burdens on employers is justified by the national defense needs of our nation.

7. I propose to reinstate the returning reservist as the assistant manager of the department, and I will increase the assistant manager's salary to equal that of the manager. Is that sufficient?

No. Even if the salary is the same, being the assistant manager is not of equal status to being the manager. See Ryan v. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, 15 F.3d 697 (7th Cir. 1994).

8. At our company, employees (as well as the employer) contribute to the pension plan. Is the returning veteran required to contribute that which he or she would have contributed if continuously employed? Is there a deadline for making up missed contributions?

Yes to both questions. If the returning veteran wants to be treated as continuously employed during the period of service, he or she must make up the contributions he or she would have made if continuously employed. After reemployment, the veteran must make up the missed contributions within the period that amounts to three times the period of service, but not more than five years.