Military Leave Policy

AUDIENCE

All Regular University employees.

PURPOSE STATEMENT

The purpose of this Policy is to establish University compliance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act for employees who require time off work due to military service.

DEFINITIONS

Military Service: service in the uniformed services covers all categories of military training and service, including duty performed on a voluntary or involuntary basis, in time of peace or war. It includes, but is not limited to: Active Duty, Active Duty for Training, Initial Act of Duty for Training, Inactive Duty Training, full time National Guard duty, and absence from work to determine fitness for any of the above types of duty.

Uniformed Services: means the Armed Forces; the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard when engaged in active duty for training, inactive duty training, or full-time National Guard duty; the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service; and any other category of persons designated by the President in time of war or national emergency. For purposes of USERRA coverage only, service as an intermittent disaster response appointee of the NDMS (National Disaster Medical System) when federally activated or attending authorized training in support of their Federal mission is deemed “service in the uniformed services,”' although such appointee is not a member of the “uniformed services” as defined by USERRA.

THE POLICY

Regular full-time or regular part-time employees who enlist, are drafted, or are recalled to active service in the Armed Forces of the United States, will be granted unpaid leaves of absence for military service up to 5 years or in accordance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act (USERRA).  Any regular full-time or regular part-time employee who is a member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States shall, as required by law, be permitted a leave of absence during periods of active duty for training.  Reserve members of the National Guard required to be absent because of summer encampments or cruises will receive the difference between the amount they receive from military duty and their lost wages for a particular work week up to a maximum of 2 work weeks.

I. Reemployment Rights

Employees who are absent from work for the reason of serving in the Uniformed Services, or for the purpose of an examination to determine fitness to perform service in the Uniformed Services, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, are entitled to reemployment rights and other benefits if:

1. The periods of absence from the University attributable to service in the Uniformed Services do not exceed a cumulative total of five (5) years not to include those periods of service expressly exempted from this five (5) year limitation by federal law (USERRA Regulations, 20 CFR & 1002.103);
2. The employee is discharged under conditions that do not constitute other than honorable discharge; and
3. The employee reports for or applies for reemployment according to the following time limits (based on the length of the current military service from which the employee is returning):
   1. Unless applicable law provides otherwise, employees whose period of Uniformed Service is less than 31 days must report to work on the first regularly scheduled workday following 8 hours of rest time upon returning from the place of duty.
   2. Employees whose period of Uniformed Service was from 31 days to 180 days must submit an application for reemployment no later than 14 days after the completion of service.
   3. Employees whose period of Uniformed Service was more than 180 days must submit an application for reemployment no later than 90 days after completion of service.
   4. Employees who, at the time of release from military service, are hospitalized for or recuperating from an illness or injury incurred or aggravated during the Uniformed Service must report for reemployment (if the period of military service was less than 31 days) or apply for reemployment (if the period of military service was 31 days or more) at the end of the period necessary for recovery from the illness or injury, provided the recovery period does not exceed two years.
   5. Documentation must be provided to establish timeliness of application, and to ensure that all eligibility requirements for reemployment are met. Failure to provide documentation cannot be used as a basis to deny reemployment if the requested information is not readily available through no fault of the employee.

The University is not required to reemploy an employee if the employment from which the employee leaves to serve in the Uniformed Services is for a brief, non-recurrent period and there is not a reasonable expectation that such employment will continue indefinitely or for a significant period.  The University is also not required to re-employ an employee returning from military leave if circumstances have changed so that reemployment would be impossible or unreasonable.

II. Position Upon Reemployment

An employee whose period of Uniformed Service was less than 91 days must be reemployed, promptly, in a position that the employee would have attained with reasonable certainty if continuously employed (the “escalator position”).  If not qualified for that position (after reasonable attempts to qualify the employee) the employee must be reemployed in the position the employee left, and if the employee is not qualified for the pre-service position (after reasonable attempts to qualify the employee), the employee must be reemployed in any other position that is the nearest approximation first to the escalator position and then to the pre-service position, provided the employee qualified for the position.

For an employee whose period of Uniformed Service was 91 days or more, the requirement is the same, however, a position of like seniority, status and pay may be offered in lieu of the escalator position or the pre-service position.

III. Disabled Veteran

An employee who has a disability incurred in, or aggravated during military service, and who (after reasonable efforts by the department to accommodate the disability) is not qualified due to the disability to be employed in the escalator position the employee would have attained but for the Uniformed Service must promptly be reemployed in any other position that is equivalent in seniority, status and pay to the escalator position.  If the employee is not qualified for an equivalent position due to the disability, the employee must promptly be reemployed in the nearest approximation to such a position in terms of seniority, status and pay, consistent with the circumstances of the person’s case.

IV. Dismissal

Employees returning from military leave may not be dismissed, except for cause, within these time limits: Within the first year of reemployment, if the period of service was more than 180 days, or Within the first 6 months of reemployment, if the period of service was between 30 and 180 days.

V. Benefits

A. Health and Life Insurance

An employee and the employee’s dependents are eligible to continue participation in the health plan while the employee is on military leave by paying the employee’s monthly contribution.  The maximum period of coverage shall be the lesser of:

• The 24-month period beginning the date the employee’s leave of absence begins; or
• The day after the date on which the person fails to return to (or apply for) a position of employment as described in the applicable provision of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.

If the employee cancels health coverage while on leave, upon reemployment, the employee must notify Human Resources within 31 days of returning to work of the employee’s intent to re-enroll.

The University will continue to provide Life Insurance coverage during the military leave until such time as any legal obligation to restore the employee to employment expires.  The employee and dependents may continue enrollment in the University’s other insurance programs by paying the monthly premium(s).

B. Disability Insurance

Eligibility for participation in Long-Term Disability coverage terminates at the beginning of the unpaid leave.

C. Retirement Plan

An employee’s service in the military must be counted in determining vested interest and accrued benefits in the Retirement Plan only to the extent required to do so under the law. (USERRA Regulations, 20 CFR & 1002.259, 260, 261, 262)

VI. FMLA Leave

The FMLA allows 12 weeks of qualifying exigency leave.  The FMLA also allows up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave during any single 12-month period for an employee to care for a covered family member who is a military service member recovering from injury or illness. (Refer to the Family and Medical Leave Policy.)

Please see the Director of Human Resources for further details.

RELATED POLICIES AND APPLICABLE LEGAL OR ACCREDITATION STANDARDS

Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act (USERRA)

Family and Medical Leave Policy

PROCEDURES

Employees who are members of military reserve units, or subject to call to active duty in any branch of the Armed Forces, are requested to notify Human Resources in writing that they are members of a reserve unit or subject to call to active duty.

Advance notice of military service to Human Resources is required unless military necessity prevents such notice.  A copy of the military orders shall accompany the application.

REFERENCING THE POLICY

HISTORY

APPENDIX

There are no appendices to this Policy.

APPROVALS

Laura Custer, Director of Human Resources

Dr. Kathleen Jagger, Acting President