Ask the Lawyer: Check to see if Veterans’ Benefits Act affects you - Military Law, Military Law Advice, Ask a Lawyer - Air Force Times

Ask the Lawyer: Check to see if Veterans’ Benefits Act affects you

Lawyer Mathew B. Tully answers your questions.

Q. The new military benefit laws I’ve been reading about are wide in scope. What effect, if any, will they have on employment and re-employment rights?

The Veterans Benefits Act of 2010 did indeed address a wide range of benefits for service members and veterans. That’s a good thing, even if it means taking time and doing research to find out whether any of the provisions apply to you.

Three important changes to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act were included in the Veterans Benefits Act, which President Obama signed into law last month.

Discrimination claims will now be processed faster, loopholes have been closed that allowed certain employers to deny service members their jobs upon returning from active duty, and technicalities will no longer allow for wage discrimination against service members.

First, the law creates a 36-month trial period for referring certain USERRA claims to the Office of Special Counsel.

While not official yet, it is likely that claims brought against federal agencies by individuals with a Social Security number ending in an odd number will go to the OSC and will be processed and investigated the same way they’ve always been handled by the Labor Department.

The Labor Department will continue processing claims from those with Social Security numbers ending in an even number. This change should prevent backlogs.

Next, the new law defines “successor of interest” as it applies to businesses that are sold while employees who are also service members are on active duty.

If a service member works for Company A, and Company A is sold to Company B, Company B has an obligation to hire the service member following active duty in a number of circumstances. A test has been created to help define whether an entity is a “successor of interest” to ensure a company cannot wriggle out of its responsibility to restore a service member’s job.

Lastly, the act will ensure service members receive pay that is equal to nonservice members’ by clarifying terminology that was previously prone to misinterpretation.

The thing to remember in all of this is that employers cannot discriminate against anyone who may have to leave for, or is returning from, military service.

Anyone experiencing such discrimination should contact an attorney immediately.

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Mathew B. Tully is an Iraq war veteran and founding partner of the law firm Tully Rinckey PLLC. You can e-mail questions to him. The information in this column is not intended as legal advice.