Replacement USERRA Posters Issued

As we reported in our March 2005 Employment Law Alert, employers are required to notify their employees of certain rights and benefits under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). To help employers satisfy this notice requirement, in March of 2005, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a poster containing the text of the required notice. Through January 17, 2006, an employer could satisfy the notice requirement by posting the poster in places where employee notices are customarily placed.

Last month, the DOL issued two new posters. Effective January 18, 2006, these posters replaced the March 2005 poster. One poster is for use by private and state government employers. The other is for use by federal executive agencies. Although the new posters differ only slightly from the March 2005 poster, an employer is no longer able to satisfy the notice requirement by posting the March 2005 poster. Rather, the employer must post the appropriate December 2005 poster to satisfy the requirement.

The new posters describe an employee's right to reemployment, right to protection from discrimination and retaliation based on military service, and right to health insurance protection. Although not described on the posters, employers should also recognize that employees also have rights to certain retirement plan contributions or benefits upon return to employment after military service. Stay tuned for more detailed information on these rights and benefits in our upcoming employment newsletter regarding the DOL's new USERRA regulations.

Employers may view both posters on the DOL's website at http://www.dol.gov/elaws/userra.htm. The posters may also be printed from the website.