Activated Military employee who still wants to work full-time

PersonnelMgr

We have an employee in the Reserves who has been called to active duty. He will be stationed at our local airport. He wants to continue to work his full-time position with us while also serving full-time in the Reserves. We support our military personnel 100% and are not looking for a reason to tell him no. But this brings up several concerns. Can an employee be on Military Leave and be an active employee at the same time? If he does continue to work, he will be held accountable to all policies and standards. He will not be able to pick when he wants to work. We are also concerned about insurance coverage. If he continues to work, should he maintain our insurance or take the military's coverage? If he declines our coverage but continues to be an active employee, after his duty are we entitled to reinstate his coverage under our plan?

We welcome any thoughts or experiences anyone has on this topic.

Hatchetman

This is an area that I don't deal with, so I'm not going to give you any specific answers. I just suggest you research your state laws on activitated military reservists and what leave and other employment rights they are entitled to.

Gar

You may want to check with your legal counsel on this but I do not believe emplolyers are liable if a member of the armed forces, who is on active duty, obtains outside employment. The burdon is on the service person to assure that such employment is not in conflict with armed forces regulations and/or missions. It is also the service persons responsibility to make sure that such employment does not result in his being AWOL (Absent Without Leave). But, as a precaution, you may want to ask the employee to obtain a letter from his commanding officer authorizining his employment. As far as his insurance coverage is concerned, I suggest you simply treat as though he is not on active duty.

System

Good advice, Gar. I'd treat him just like any other employee with a second job until the two jobs conflict. Then follow USERRA. And I like the idea of involving the commanding officer.

Also, be prepared for him to ship out on a moment's notice. After the terrorist attacks, some Navy ships left port so fast that sailors didn't have time to call their families.

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers