USERRA

Frank

USERRA requires employers to provide health continuation coverage to employees who take military leave under USERRA. My company offers short- and long-term disability coverage to its employees, with some employees responsible for paying a portion of the premium, depending on the employee's job classification. 1. Must the company allow the employee to continue this disability coverage during the military leave period (presumably with the employee paying the entire premium)? 2. If not, but the employee returns within the five years, how should we handle the pre-existing conditions clause that ordinarily applies to new employees?

System

According to Maryland Employment Law Letter ([url]http://www.hrhero.com/mdemp.shtml[/url]), you need to treat their benefits the same as you treat employees returning from other types of leave, like FMLA. But keep in mind a coupla things:

-- USERRA has special rules for returning employees who were injured during military duty.
-- And employees accrue seniority while on military leave, although I doubt your disability plan is based on seniority.

Helpful links:

[url]http://www.hrhero.com/headlines/tragedy.shtml[/url]

U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service:
[url]http://www.dol.gov/elaws/userra0.htm[/url]

National Committee of Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve:
[url]http://www.esgr.org/tipsemployers.html[/url]

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers