USERRA Rule Relaxes Time Requirements

The U.S. Department of Labor has eased some standards in the final version of the long-awaited regulations that will implement the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.[@@]

The law requires employers of all sizes to hold the jobs of employees out on military leave open for at least 5 years.

USERRA also requires employers to reinstate full seniority and retirement benefits for returning “citizen soldiers,” and it requires employers to offer some health coverage continuation benefits for employees on military leave and their dependents.

Although the law was enacted in 1994, the U.S. Department of Labor did not draft regulations to implement USERRA until September 2004.

The new final rule, which takes effect Jan. 18, 2006, makes many complicated changes in pension rights.

One section of USERRA requires employers to make up for any skipped defined benefit plan contributions and defined contribution plan matching contributions once employees return from military leave.

A major revision to the USERRA draft rule would extend the employer’s plan contribution payment period to 90 days “or when contributions are normally made for the year in which the military service was performed, whichever is later,” Labor Department officials write in the preamble to the rule.

Previously, Labor Department officials had proposed giving employers only 30 days to make up for skipped plan contributions.