Applies to:	Original Policy Date:	Date of Last Review:	Approved by:
All Florida Tech Full-time and Part-time Employees	May 2021	June 2022 August 2024	John Nicklow

Policy Owner: Office of Human Resources

Policy Purpose

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) protects service members and veterans from employment discrimination on the basis of their service and allows them to regain their civilian jobs following a period of uniformed service. This policy, in accordance with USERRA, ensures that service members employed by Florida Institute of Technology are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their service in the uniformed service.

Policy Scope

This policy covers full and part-time employees who must be absent from work at Florida Tech due to service in the United States uniformed services, who meet the eligibility criteria in policy guidelines.

Policy Statement

Florida Institute of Technology grants military leaves of absence in accordance with federal, state and local law and reinstates employees returning from a military leave in accordance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 ("USERRA") and other applicable law.

Any employee of the university who has completed one day of regular employment and who is drafted for uniformed service or who volunteers for service in the uniformed services of the United States, shall, upon completion of such service, be reinstated to employment with the university in accordance with the applicable laws regulating such matters. Temporary and casual employees are not eligible for employment with reinstatement rights.

Military leave is unpaid. Employees do not accrue sick/vacation time nor are they eligible for holiday pay while on military leave. However, time served on active duty counts toward determining an employee's leave accrual rate upon return from active duty.

Effective 9/1/2024, 9-month faculty members who defer their pay will have their deferral paid out at the start of their leave and will be paid based on the 9-month schedule for the remainder of the Academic Year, if applicable.

Procedures/Guidelines

Eligibility Criteria

1. The employee’s absence from a position of employment with Florida Tech is necessitated by reason of service in the uniformed services.
2. The employee must give advance notice to the university that the employee is leaving the job for service in the uniformed services unless such notice is precluded by military necessity or otherwise impossible or unreasonable.
3. The cumulative length of the absence and of all previous absences from a position of employment with Florida Tech by reason of service in the uniformed services does not exceed five years except for specific circumstances as listed in 38 U.S.C. § 4312 (c).
4. The employee must not have been released from service under dishonorable or other punitive conditions; and
5. The employee must report back to Florida Institute of Technology in a timely manner or submit a timely application for reemployment, unless timely reporting back or application was impossible or unreasonable.

Employees should contact the Office of Human Resources when there is a need for military leave for military training or a need to leave their current position for service in the uniformed services, unless such notice is precluded by military necessity or otherwise impossible or unreasonable.

Period of Absence	Return to Work Requirement
Less than 30 days	The employee reports to work the next scheduled workday.
31-181 days	The employee submits a request for reemployment to the Office of Human Resources within 14 days following the completion of service.
181 days - 5 years	The employee submits a request for reemployment to the Office of Human Resources within 90 days following the completion of service.
If employee is hospitalized or convalescing from a service-connected injury	The employee must submit an application for reemployment with the Office of Human Resources no later than two years following completion of service.

The Office of Human Resources will, upon the employee's application for reemployment, request that the employee provide Florida Institute of Technology with military documentation to establish the timeliness of the request for reemployment, the duration of the military service, and the conditions of discharge from the military service, if applicable.

Employees must apply for reemployment in a timely manner as indicated in the table above. In addition to the employee's failure to apply for reemployment in a timely manner, an employee is not entitled to reinstatement as described above if any of the following conditions exist:

• Florida Tech's circumstances have so changed as to make reemployment impossible or unreasonable.
• Reemployment would pose an undue hardship upon Florida Tech.
• The employee's employment prior to the military service was merely for a brief, non-recurrent period and there was no reasonable expectation that the employment would have continued indefinitely or for a significant period.
• The employee received a less than honorable discharge from military service.

If an employee fails to apply for reemployment and/or or does not return to work at the expiration of USERRA provision, Florida Tech will consider the employee to have voluntarily resigned their position.

Nothing in this policy should be construed as a contract of employment. The provisions of this policy are subject to change in accordance with federal, state and local laws.

Definitions

Uniformed services: The Armed Forces, the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard when engaged in active duty for training, inactive duty training, or full-time National Guard duty, the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service, the commissioned officer corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, System members of the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System during a period of appointment into Federal service under section 327 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, and any other category of persons designated by the President in time of war or national emergency.

Service in uniformed services: The performance of duty on a voluntary or involuntary basis in a uniformed service under competent authority and includes active duty, active duty for training, initial active duty for training, inactive duty training, full-time National Guard duty, State active duty for a period of 14 days or more, State active duty in response to a national emergency declared by the President under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), State active duty in response to a major disaster declared by the President under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170), a period for which a person is absent from a position of employment for the purpose of an examination to determine the fitness of the person to perform any such duty, a period for which a System member of the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System is absent from a position of employment due to an appointment into Federal service under section 327 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, and a period for which a person is absent from employment for the purpose of performing funeral honors duty as authorized by section 12503 of title 10 or section 115 of title 32.

Compliance Reference

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 ("USERRA") 38 U.S.C. Chapter 43

Responsibilities

Unless military necessity prevents it, or it is otherwise impossible or unreasonable, an employee should provide their manager or the Office of Human Resources with notice of the need for military leave as far in advance as is possible under the circumstances.

The Office of Human Resources is responsible to reinstate employees returning from military service in accordance with this policy.

Enforcement

Federal and state government