USERRA Advisor

If your application for reemployment or return to work was prior to December 12, 1994, you should contact your local VETS office for assistance regarding applicable timely application requirements.

Limits for returning to work depend, with the exception of fitness for service examinations, on the duration of a person's military service.

Service of 1 to 30 days. The person must report to his or her employer by the beginning of the first regularly scheduled work period on the day following completion of service, after allowing for safe travel home and eight hours of rest.

For example, an employer cannot require a service member who returns home at 10:00 p.m. to report to work 2 and 1/2 hours later at 12:30 am. However, the employer can require the employee to report for the 6:00 am shift the next morning.

If, due to no fault of the employee, timely reporting back to work would be impossible or unreasonable, the employee must report back to work as soon as possible.

Fitness Exam. The time limit for reporting back to work for a person who is absent from work in order to take a fitness for service examination is the same as the one above for persons who are absent for 1 to 30 days. This period will apply regardless of the length of the person's absence.

Service of 31 to 180 days. An application for reemployment must be submitted no later than 14 days after completion of a person's service. If submission of a timely application is impossible or unreasonable through no fault of the person, the application must be submitted as soon as possible.

Service of 181 or more days. An application for reemployment must be submitted no later than 90 days after completion of a person's military service. See 20 CFR Part 1002.115.

Injury or illness occurring or aggravated during a period of service. The reporting or application deadlines are extended for up to two years from the date of completion of service for persons who are hospitalized or convalescing because of an injury or illness occurring or aggravated during a period of service.

The two-year period will be extended by the minimum time required to accommodate a circumstance beyond an individual's control that would make reporting within the two-year period impossible or unreasonable. See 20 CFR Part 1002.116.

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