03/ 22/ 2002
Small business owners are preparing for the loss of employees as military reservists are called up to assist in the nation's anti-terrorism campaign.
All public and private employers are covered by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, also called USERRA. According to the law:
- USERRA covers absences to perform voluntary and involuntary duty, including active duty, training, weekend drills and fitness-for-duty examinations.
- Employees or an appropriate military officer must give advance notice, unless doing so is impossible or unreasonable because of military necessity or other legitimate reasons. Only if the combined length of an employee's prior military leaves is more than five years may leave be denied.
- An employer does not have to pay an employee during military leave.
- Employees on military leave have the right to use any vacation or similar leave with pay that they accrued prior to military service, but employers cannot require the use of vacation time.
- Employers must continue to provide regular health benefits for the first 30 days of the employees' absence; after 30 days, employers must provide COBRA-like health benefit continuation.
- When employees return to work, employers must provide them with a job equal to one they would have if they had remained continuously employed, with no loss of seniority or benefits.
The SBA has also made available low-interest loans to small businesses that lose an "essential employee" to active duty. Go to www.sba.gov for details.
