Skip to main content

ISERRA Requires Public Employers to PAY for Military Leave

By
It is important for public employers to understand the Illinois Service Member Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (ISERRA) and how it impacts their obligation to employees who are on a military leave of absence.  ISERRA consolidated the state’s Military Leave of Absence Act, Public Employee Armed Services Rights Act, Municipal Employees Military Active Duty Act, and the Local Government Employee Benefits Continuation Act. 
Much of ISSERA is modeled after the federal Uniformed Serivces Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USSERA).  However, there are important differences.
Who Is Protected?
  1. All members of the Armed Forces whether active duty, inactive duty or reserve, including the National Guard when performing state duty.
  2. All members of Military Auxiliary Radio System, United States Coast Guard Reserve, Civil Air Patrol and the Merchant Marines when performing official duties in support of an emergency.
  3. Members who are released from military duty with follow-on care by the Department of Defense.
What are Employers Obligations under ISSERA?
1.       During periods of military leave for annual training for employees who are members of a reserve component, public employers must continue to pay full compensation (concurrent compensation) for up to 30 days per calendar year.
2.       During periods of military leave for active service, a public employer must provide differential compensation, subject to the following:
  • Public employees can choose to use their accrued vacation leave with pay in lieu of differential compensation.
  • Differential compensation for voluntary active service is limited to 60 work days.
  • Public employees who have exhausted concurrent compensation in a calendar year must be given differential compensation.
The method for calculating differential compensation is covered in Section 5-10 of the Act.
3.       Employer provided health care must continue to be provided.
4.       A service member who is absent on military leave must be credited with the average of his or her evaluations received over the last three years preceding the leave.  This rating may not be less than the rating that the employee received for the last rating period preceding his or her leave.
Questions about this law and its impact on units of local government can be directed to the Attorney General’s ISERRA Advocate, Thomas Banning at 1-800-382-3000.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comment.

Popular posts from this blog

55 Active Job Search Sites (Updated 7/19)

By
I had a company encouraging me to update this list over the last couple of months.  Since they focus on veteran hiring and I am a veteran supporting other veterans I am happy to add the following to this original posting from 2017. Silent Professionals is a free veteran recruitment service. Their differentiating factor is that they focus on a very specific subset of veteran employment which is the combat arms veteran. Their site is much more than just a job board because they actually provide a service behind it which is all free to the veteran. As combat veterans themselves, with a vast amount of experience in the private security sector, they are able to use that experience and influence within the industry to act as trusted advocates for the veteran candidate. They boast an incredible 84% job placement success rate for candidates that they recommend to employers. One of the reasons they're able to do that is because of their focus on jobs for combat veterans who are seek
Post a Comment
Read more

Honest, Vulnerable, and Transparent Communications Can Be a Curse for Women

By
As we approach yet another end to Women’s History Month where organizations make a sincere concerted effort to raise awareness to the issues women face in the workplace with hope for continued change, I am skeptical. Not because I do not believe in the effort. Not because I have not heard story after story of women who have made history and are honored and respected highly for women’s suffrage progress they have made. Not because I do not believe in change. I do believe strongly in the effort that brings these stories to the public causing change. However, the reason I am skeptical is the same reason so many other women question the possibility of real change. Why, because we have been victims who feel defeated repeatedly and constantly reminded of the loss experienced. When you feel you have taken two steps forward and knocked five steps back every time that original wound opens and reminds us of the curse lived just because we are a woman. I had to be quiet about the real reason I
Post a Comment
Read more

HR Assessment Risk Summary

By
In summarizing the potential for risk in the human resources and personnel practices of organizations visited over the past few years, the highest risk of audits, investigations, grievances and the resulting potential for penalties, fines and legal concerns come from six primary sources.   The main reason for concerns are because certain federal and state agencies are making it a priority to investigate: Misclassification of employees as exempt, Illinois led the nation in active investigations 3,635 involving 19,765 misclassifications, 245.6 million in unreported taxable wages, 5.1 million in unemployment tax unreported, 270,570 employees impacted. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced that 84,254 workplace discrimination charges were filed with the federal agency nationwide during fiscal year (FY) 2017, and secured $398 million for victims in the private sector and state and local government workplaces through voluntary resolutions and litiga
Post a Comment
Read more