§4313 Reemployment Positions

Summary

When a person is entitled to return to work after a period of service in the uniformed services, the employer must promptly rehire them in a specific order. If their service was less than 91 days, they must be put back into the job they would have had if they never left, if they can do that job. If they cannot do that job after the employer makes reasonable efforts to help, they go back to the job they held when they left. If their service was more than 90 days, the employer must give them the job they would have had or a job with the same seniority, status, and pay, if they can do it; if they cannot after reasonable efforts, they go back to their old job or an equivalent one. If the person has a disability caused or made worse by the service and cannot perform the prior job even after reasonable accommodation, the employer must place them in any equivalent job they can do (or could do with reasonable help), or the nearest similar job that fits their situation. If someone is not qualified for reasons other than service-related disability and cannot become qualified with reasonable efforts, they must be placed in the nearest similar job with full seniority. If two or more people claim the same job when they return, the person who left that job first has the first right to it. Anyone not getting that job must be placed in another job under the same priority rules, with similar status and pay and with full seniority. Federal employees’ returns are also subject to sections 4314 and 4315.