If your employer is not treating you fairly because of your military service obligation, you should contact an experienced employment attorney because you have employment protections under federal law and New Jersey law. Those in the Armed Forces should be rewarded and not penalized for their service to this country.
Those in the Armed Forces or are serving or training in the Army National Guard and Air National Guard have rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). USERRA applies to all kinds of employers and requires employers to allow participation in military service by those who perform voluntary or involuntary duty in the uniformed services.
The “uniformed services” include the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Public Health Service Com. Corps, and the Reserve components of each of these services.
The “service” includes active duty, active duty for training, inactive duty training, initial active duty training, and funeral honors duty performed by National Guard and reserve members. “Services” also includes the period for which a person is absent from a position of employment for the purpose of an examination to determine fitness to perform any such duty.
- USERRA covers nearly all employees, including part-time and probationary employees.
- USERRA applies to all U.S. employers, regardless of size
- USERRA gives protections for an employee who has ongoing duty to participate in military training one or two days a month.
- USERRA protections also include reinstatement to an employee's previous job following a deployment in the Armed Forces, as well as safeguards upon their return for any necessary retraining, seniority and benefits.
The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination also makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate against a New Jersey employee even if you are an at-will employee because of a person’s liability for service in the Armed Forces of the United States.
What You Can Do
If you had to leave your job because you were deployed, or are in the Reserve or National Guard, you shouldn't have to miss out on benefits, be denied a chance at promotion or lose your employment. I am experienced and successful in structuring a case demonstrating that an employer’s claims of “business necessity” for their discriminatory acts violate law.
If you are being subjected to workplace discrimination, contact Hope A. Lang, Attorney at Law today for a free consultation about employment protections for your military service.
Hope A. Lang, Attorney at Law serves clients throughout New Jersey, including Bergen, Middlesex, Essex, Hudson, Monmouth, Ocean, Union, Camden, Passaic, and Morris Counties with locations in southern, central, western and northern NJ to meet with clients.