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Happy Veteran's Day
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11/11/2014
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By: Donald Berner
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Today
is
a
great
day
to
remember
the
sacrifices
made
by
our
veterans.
Stop
and
take
a
moment
to
thank
a
veteran
for
their
service
to
our
country.
The
freedoms
we
all
enjoy
on
a
daily
basis
are
provided
by
those
who
are
currently
serving
and
those
that
have
served
in
the
past.
For
employers,
Veteran's
Day
is
a
great
time
to
reflect
on
your
employment
policies
and
practices
to
ensure
compliance
with
the
Uniformed
Services
Employment
and
Reemployment
Rights
Act
(USERRA).
For
more
reading
on
the
topic
check
out Department
of
Labor
Fact
Sheet
on
USERRA
located
here.
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Happy Memorial Day
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05/25/2012
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By: Donald Berner
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Memorial
Day
is
rapidly
approaching.
Many
of
you
may have
plans
to
take
a
few
days
off
and
enjoy
the
official
start
to
the
summer
vacation
season.
Popular escapes include
a
wide
variety
of
outdoor
activities
like camping
and lake
trips.
For
those
of
you
with
kids
playing
sports,
Memorial
Day
is
also
a
popular
time
for
tournaments.
With
all
of
these
recreational
activities
on
our
minds,
let's
not
lose
sight
of
the
purpose
for
the
Memorial
Day
holiday.
Memorial
Day
was
originally
established
as
a
day
of
remembrance
for
those who
died
in
service
to
the
nation (read
more
here).
In
this
spirit,
it
is
a
good
time
for
employers
to
consider their
obligations
under
USERRA,
the
federal
law
that protects
returning
service
members
as
they
re-enter
the
workforce
following
their
military
service.
USERRA
protects
veterans
from
discriminatory
treatment
and
provides
a
variety
of
re-employment
related
protections.
For
a
quick
review
check
out
this
summary
of
USERRA's
protections.
The
DOL
has
published
a
lengthy
handbook
related
to
USERRA,
which can
be
found
here.
No
matter
what
your
tradition,
have
a
great
and
safe
holiday
weekend.
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EEOC Issues Guidance to Employers about Disabled Veterans
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03/05/2012
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By: Boyd Byers
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Three
million
veterans
have
returned
from
military
service
over
the
past
decade,
and
another
one
million
are
expected
to
return
to
civilian
life
during
the
next
five
years
because
of
the
anticipated
drawdown
of
operations
in
the
Middle
East.
In
recent
years,
the
percentage
of
veterans
who
report
having
service-connected
disabilities
has
risen.
About
twenty-five
percent
of
recent
veterans
report
having
a
service-connected
disability,
as
compared
to
about
thirteen
percent
of
all
veterans,
according
to
the
EEOC.
The
EEOC
recently
released
new
guidance
explaining
how
the
2008
changes
to
the
Americans
with
Disabilities
Act
affect
employment
of
veterans
with
disabilities.
One
of
the
guides
is
for
employers;
the
other
is
for
veterans.
“Veterans
and
the
Americans
with
Disabilities
Act: A
Guide
for
Employers”
explains
how
protections
for
veterans
with
disabilities
differ
under
the
ADA
and
the
Uniformed
Services
Employment
and
Reemployment
Rights
Act
(USERRA),
and
how
the
ADA
applies
to
recruiting,
hiring,
and
accommodating
veterans
with
disabilities.
You
can
link
to
this
guidance
by
clicking
here.
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A Salute to our Veterans
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11/11/2011
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By: Donald Berner
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Happy
Veteran's
Day
to
all
those
who served.
For
employers,
Veteran's
Day
is a
great
time
to
reflect
on
your
employment
policies
and
practices
to
ensure
compliance
with
the
Uniformed
Services
Employment
and Reemployment
Rights
Act
(USERRA). The
basic
gist is
that
individuals
returning to
an
employer
after engaging
in
military service
are
entitled
to
reemployment
as
if
the
individual
had
never
left employment. In
addition,
USERRA
provides those
individuals
with
some
protection
of
their
benefits
and
compensation
levels
during
this
time
of
military
leave.
For
more
reading
on
the
topic
check
out
this
Department
of
Labor
Fact
Sheet
on
USERRA issues.
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The Monkey, the Cat, and the Army Reservist
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03/02/2011
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By: Boyd Byers
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Yesterday
the
U.S.
Supreme
Court
ruled
that
an
employer
can
be
liable
for
employment
discrimination
based
on
evidence
that
a
biased
supervisor
influenced,
but
did
not
actually
make,
an
employment
decision. The
Court,
pulling
words
and
phrases
from
a
legalese
lexicon
that
only
a
lawyer
could
love,
said,
“if
a
supervisor
performs
an
act
motivated
by
[discriminatory]
animus
that
is
intended
by
the
supervisor
to
cause
an
adverse
employment
action,
and
if
that
act
is
a
proximate
cause
of
the
ultimate
employment
action,
then
the
employer
is
liable
....” Leaving
the
legal
jargon
aside,
this
is
sometimes
called
the
“cat’s
paw”
theory
of
liability.
The
term
"cat's
paw"
theory
derives from Aesop's fable
about a
clever
monkey
who
persuades a
gullible
cat
to
retrieve
roasting chestnuts
from
a
fire. The
monkey
gets the
chestnuts,
and
the
cat
gets nothing
but
burned paws.
The
analogy
to employment
discrimination is when
a
biased supervisor
dupes an
unbiased
decisionmaker
into taking
an
adverse
job
action
against
an
employee based
on
inaccurate,
incomplete,
or
misleading information.
In
this
case,
Vincent
Staub
alleged
he
was
fired
because
of
his
military
service,
in
violation
of
the
Uniformed
Services
Employment
and
Reemployment
Rights
Act
(USERRA). Staub
presented
evidence
that
his
two
immediate
supervisors
had
an
anti-military
bias,
and
that
they
in
turn
had
convinced
the
human
resources
manager
to
fire
him. Staub
argued
that
even
though
the
HR
manager,
who
actually
made
the
decision,
was
not
herself
biased,
the
company
could
still
be
held
liable
for
discrimination because
she
fired
Staub
based
on
information
the
supervisors
reported
to
HR
and
put
in
Staub’s
personnel
file.
The
Continue Reading...
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A Veteran's Day Salute
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11/11/2010
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By: Donald Berner
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In
the
spirit
of
Veteran’s
Day,
we
thought
a
brief
summary
of
the
Uniformed
Services
Employment
and
Reemployment
Rights
Act,
or
USERRA
for
short,
would
be
appropriate.
USERRA
protects
employees
who
serve
in
the
uniformed
services,
which
include
the
active
and
reserve
components
of
the
various
branches
of
the
military
and
national
guard.
USERRA’s
protections
come
in
two
forms.
First,
employers
are
prohibited
from
discriminating
against
an
employee
on
the
basis
of
his
or
her
uniformed
service.
In
other
words,
an
employer
cannot
discharge,
refuse
to
hire,
or
otherwise
treat
an
employee
negatively
because
he
or
she
has
served,
is
serving,
or
will
serve
in
the
uniformed
services.
Second,
for
employees
who
leave
their
employment
for
uniformed
service,
USERRA
requires
that
they
be
reemployed
promptly
upon
their
return
from
uniformed
service.
Under
what
is
known
as
the
“escalator
principle,”
the
employee
is
entitled
to
reemployment
in
the
position
in
which
he
or
she would
have
been
employed
had
he
or
she
not
left
for
military
service.
In
a
nutshell,
the
employee
steps
back
into
the
employment
relationship
as
if
he
or she had
not
left.
Where
a
promotion
is
reasonably
certain
to
have
occurred,
such
as
a
change
in
paygrade
based
on
years
of
service,
the
employer
must
place
the
returning
service
member
in
the
higher
or
escalator
position.
If
the
employee
is
not
qualified
for
Continue Reading...
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Editors
Don Berner, the Labor Law, OSHA, & Immigration Law Guy
Boyd Byers, the General Employment Law Guy
Jason Lacey, the Employee Benefits Guy
Additional Sources
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