USERRA

Sue2

Our USERRA policy is administered differently for ordered military leaves and voluntary military leaves. We state that for ORDERED military leaves of less than 31 days, the Company will pay the employee's normal rate of pay but for voluntary military service we will pay DIFFERNTIAL pay for only the first 30 days. I don't think we can legally enforce this. What do you say?
PS We've only had one fulltime employee who qualifies under USERRA and this was not an issue with him.

Parabeagle

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-18-06 AT 12:44PM (CST)[/font][br][br]I don't think you can treat them differently. The Act states that its protections apply specifically to voluntary or involuntary active duty. However, the twist in your plan is that you pay your employees while they are on leave, which is not something the Act requires. Given that payment is not a condition of the law, perhaps you are okay. I know I just pulled a 180 degree turn, but I'm thinking this through while I type.

If I were in your shoes, just to avoid confusion and possibly running afoul of the Act, I would treat both categories of active duty identically.

Hopefully someone with some real-world experience in this area will pipe in. We haven't had any employees covered by USERRA since the mid-90s

Dutch2

If you are a member of SHRM, just type in "USERRA" in their search area and will be get several reports to view. If not a member of SHRM, then go to Google and type in "USERRA" and you will also get several hits. It immediatley came up with a very detailed report wtih Q&S from the DOL when I did this.
Good luck.

pork1

SUE2: USERRA does not apply to pay with the exception that benefits provided to all employees must be equally applied to the civilian/soldier. If you choose to discriminate between the voluntary call up and the involuntary call up, I believe you might be touching on a discrimination arena that is not necessary. We are not allowed to discriminate any benefit between either of the types of deployments, therefore, I feel like you should not discriminate between the types of call-ups either for this special consideration that your company is making toward our service men. We do not pay either except that we allow the civilian/soldier to use up his/her vacation/sick time while called up and we allow the employee to continue to accum benefit hours as if they were here and working, like all other employees.

To anser your question yes you could do a different payroll for the different deployments, but I would not recommend it. I went to Vietnam by assignment the first time; I went to Vietnam the 2nd time as a volunteer. The fact that I was willing to take the place of some other soldier during my 2nd deployment did not make me a differently deserving soldier.

We currently have one soldier out on a military mission relating to the Iraq war zone. He volunteered to be a recruiter for the National Guard. He was to return on the last day of March, 2006. He did not return instead the NG gave him an opportunity to assist in the Camp Shelby, MS training facility. He is not going to be treated any differently than any soldier that was ordered to active duty. I am still waiting on our last soldier to come home, yet her unit has been back since before Christmas. She remains on the payroll and accumalating time and benefits which she will get, if she comes back prior to 91 days after the unit release date. Since I do not have her DD214 I can not take any action to terminate her employment for she might have also volunteered to work at Camp Shelby.

Do ask questions before you leap, this one could jump up and burn real badly.

PORK

RoadKing

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-20-06 AT 07:31AM (CST)[/font][br][br] >Our USERRA policy is administered differently
>for ordered military leaves and voluntary
>military leaves. We state that for ORDERED
>military leaves of less than 31 days, the
>Company will pay the employee's normal rate of
>pay but for voluntary military service we will
>pay DIFFERNTIAL pay for only the first 30 days.
>I don't think we can legally enforce this. What
>do you say?
>PS We've only had one fulltime employee who
>qualifies under USERRA and this was not an issue
>with him.

You also need to check your state law for guidance. Here in Ohio the ORC states very specifically the options that an employer has for compensating an employee who is called to active duty or who volunteers. We have had several employees go off to war, but it also covers NG duty.