Connecticut Employment Law Blog : Connecticut Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Daniel Schwartz : Stamford, Hartford New Haven, CT

Earlier this afternoon, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010.  By doing so, he approved of several changes to the FMLA .  But before you rip up your existing FMLA policies, the provisions relate to the military-related leaves under the Act.  (H/T Ohio Employer's Law Blog)  The changes as a whole expand the coverage and the availability of military family leave. 

Carl Bosland at the FMLA Blog summarizes the details:

• Eligible employees will be able to take military caregiver leave for veterans who served in the regular Armed Forces, the Reserves within 5 years of the date the veterans undergoes medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy.  Currently, military caregiver leave is only available to care for current members of the Armed Forces, Guard, or Reserves.
• Military caregiver leave is expanded to cover aggravation of existing or preexisting injuries incurred in the line of duty while on active duty. 
• Qualifying exigency leave is expanded to cover members of the regular Armed Forces who are deployed to a foreign country.  Currently, qualifying exigency leave is only available for covered military members in the Reserves or Guard.

But of course, in Connecticut, this will only create another set of headaches. Connecticut just amended the state FMLA rules to be more consistent with the federal rules as they relate to military caregiver leave.  These new rules now create a significant difference between the state and federal rules.

Nevertheless, where the FMLA and the state FMLA conflict, employers in Connecticut must implement the more favorable of rules. Therefore, employers subject to FMLA in Connecticut

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Nine months after a jury found his employer liable for firing a reservist called to active duty after the 9/11 attacks, a federal judge awarded Michael Serricchio over $1.3M in damages on his federal claim in a decision handed down late last week.

It is believed to be the largest judgment ever awarded under The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), a federal law that protects service members' reemployment rights when returning from a period of service in the uniformed services, including those called up from the reserves or National Guard, and prohibits employer discrimination based on military service or obligation.

You can read the court's decision here.  The court's judgment is available here and also includes an order of reinstatement. 

The Hartford Courant had a lengthy piece over the weekend spelling out the reaction to the court's decision including much of its background.

While the amount of the court's judgment is significant, the outcome wasn't that unexpected after a jury decided the issue of liability last summary. The federal court only had to decide what, if any damages, it would award.   Before the court held the bench trial on damages, it afforded each party the opportunity to submit trial briefs on the issue. You can view the employer's brief here and the employee's brief here. The court held a bench trial last fall on the issue of damages and issued its decision late last week.

For employers, USERRA is one of the least-understood federal employment laws. Back in 2007, I discussed it at length. The Department of Labor also has an extensive website on the subject.  For employers with reservists or those called to active duty, understanding USERRA is crucial to avoiding expensive and time-consuming claims under that law. 
 

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