New Jersey Military Service Discrimination Lawyers

USERRA Provisions

The USERRA is a very comprehensive statute that protects veterans and members of the armed forces from adverse employment actions based on their status as such.

It prohibits a range of adverse employment actions such as:

• • Hiring or laying off

• • Forcing to resign

• • Workplace harassment

• • Underpayment

• • Demotion

• • Etc.

The USERRA further protects employees who are called to duty. It prohibits firing employees called into active military service, as well as the right to be reinstated to the position they held at that time.  Such employees are also entitled to promotions, pay increases, or other perks they would have received had they not been called into active duty. If the job description after such promotion requires skills that the deployed individual is not familiar with because of the military duty, then they must be provided with proper training by the employer.

The statute also protects the right to receive employer-sponsored health insurance coverage for up to two years in deployment and up to five years of time away from employment while on duty.

Apart from USERRA, the Family and Medical Leave Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination also provide for certain protections for active military personnel and veterans.

The FMLA provides for leave of up to 26 weeks to care for a spouse, child, or parent who has been injured in the line of duty. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination also extends similar protection to veterans and members of the armed forces. With some important exceptions, it prohibits employers from refusing to grant leave due to a military call to duty.