[date]
[name]
[street address]
[city, state, ZIP+4]
Dear [name]:
You have notified us that you will be absent from the Postal Service in order to perform active military service under Title 10, Title 14, or Title 32 United States Code (U.S.C.) or to perform service as an Intermittent Disaster-Response Appointee (hereafter included in the term "military service").
You will be placed in a military leave without pay status (LWOP — military) while you are performing military service unless you request in writing to be separated from employment and specifically state that (a) you do not intend to return to employment with the Postal Service after completing military service and (b) you understand that you are forfeiting benefits by separating.
This package includes enclosures developed to introduce you to important information, some of which simply need to understand, and some of which you must act on before you leave. Note these essential points:
1. If you remain a Postal Service employee in an LWOP status for the period of active duty military service, you will be entitled to all the rights and benefits offered by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), provided you meet the qualifications for coverage and fulfill your obligations under the law. If you separate, you still have the right to reemployment as long as you meet the requirements set out in the attached document under Entitlement to Reemployment or Reinstatement and Eligibility Requirements, but you will not be entitled to non-seniority-based benefits or Postal Service benefits not required by USERRA.
See Part 1, USERRA and Postal Service Rights, Benefits, and Obligations
and Part 2, Steps for Providing Required Notification and Documentation.
2. You may take steps now to prepare documentation so that we can process your applications for position changes while you are away.
See 3A, Application for Positions.
3. You must decide whether to continue your Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) coverage while you are away. If you are activated under Title 10, U.S.C, you may qualify for Postal Service payment of your premiums for up to 24 months during LWOP, or perhaps longer if you are able to use leave to interrupt your continuous LWOP and extend your benefits. You will also want to review other steps needed to obtain Postal Service benefits and retirement service credit.
Note: If you began your active duty military service before this letter became effective on January 1, 2008, the suppression of billing described in 4C of this letter may not apply to you. The procedures in place when you began your active military service and described in the letter you received at that time will continue in effect unless your modify your request (see 4C).
See 1G, Entitlement to Continue FEHB Coverage
and 4C, Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB)
Questions
If you have questions about the protections that USERRA affords you or about Postal Service policies that apply to employees performing military service, contact your HR local services. If you have any questions regarding benefits and the actions you must take to secure them contact the HRSSC at 1-877-477-3273, option 5 or at .
HR Shared Service Center
Enclosures: Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
PSForm 3111, Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Coverage or Termination While in Leave Without Pay (LWOP) Status
SF 1152, Unpaid Compensation of Deceased Civilian Employee
SF 2808, Civil Service Retirement System, or SF 3102, Federal Employees’ Retirement System, as applicable
SF 2823, Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Program
TSP-3, Thrift Savings Plan
TSP Fact Sheet: TSP Benefits That Apply to Members of the Military Who Return to Federal Civilian Service
USPS 37 Page 2 of 23
USERRA and Postal Service Provisions
For Employees Performing Active Duty Military Service
February 12, 2008
Contents
1. USERRA and Postal Service Rights, Benefits, and Obligations
A. General Overview
B. Conditions Required for USERRA-Protected Military Service
C. Entitlement to Reemployment or Reinstatement and Eligibility Requirements
D. Entitlement to Return to Your Escalator Position
E. Entitlement to Receive Necessary Training
F. Entitlement to Qualify for Pay Raises
G. Entitlement to Continue FEHB Coverage
H. Status While Performing Military Service
I. Working for the Postal Service While Performing Military Service
J. Leave While Performing Military Service
K. Service Credit for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) While Performing Military Service
L. Copy of the Law
Exhibit 1 — Exceptions to the 5-Year Period of Military Service After Which Postal Service Employment Must Be Terminated
2. Steps for Providing Required Notification and Documentation
A. Reasonable Advance Notice
B. Advance Documentation of Military Service
C. Timely Request for Reemployment or Reinstatement
D. Final Documentation of Military Service
3. Steps for Obtaining Positions
A. Application for Positions
4. Steps for Obtaining Benefits
A. Beneficiary Forms
B. Use of Leave to Interrupt Continuous LWOP
C. Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB)
D. Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI)
E. Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP)
F. Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)
G. Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS)
H. Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)
I. 5-Day Administrative Leave Allowance
J. Forms
Exhibit 2 — FEHB and FEGLI Coverage for Employees Absent on LWOP to Perform Military Service
USPS 37 Page 24 of 23
1. USERRA and Postal Service Rights, Benefits, and Obligations
A. General Overview
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) prohibits discrimination in employment because of your military service. It protects your right to reemployment, maintaining your seniority rights, and entitles you to some benefits during and after your military service, provided you perform qualifying military service and fulfill your obligations under the law.
The Postal Service also provides certain additional benefits to employees performing military service that are not required by USERRA.
Note that the term reemployment used in the context of USERRA applies to you
when you return from a period of active duty military service —
whether you remain an employee of the Postal Service on LWOP or separate.
B. Conditions Required for USERRA-Protected Military Service
USERRA covers your military service provided you meet all of the following conditions:
1. You must perform military service as a member of the uniformed services, as an Intermittent Disaster-Response Appointee, or as a member of a category of other persons who are designated by the President as uniformed services in time of war or emergency.
Qualifying as members of the "uniformed services" are:
§ Members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Public Health Service (Commissioned Corps)
§ Members of the Army Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Coast Guard Reserve, Public Health Service (Commissioned Corps Reserve)
Note: State militias (for example, the Virginia Militia), state guards (for example, the New York Guard), and state naval militias (for example, the New York Naval Militia) are not included within USERRA’s definition of “uniformed services,” and service in these organizations does not afford employees USERRA protections or benefits. Employees performing service in these organizations are not entitled to Postal Service benefits for “employees performing military service as a member of a uniformed service.”
§ Members of the Army National Guard or Air National Guard when performing military service under Title 10 or Title 32 United States Code.
Note: State military service is not uniformed service and is not protected by USERRA.
§ Individuals who qualify as “Intermittent Disaster-Response Appointee,” that is, appointed under the provisions of Public Law 107–188, dated June 12, 2002.
This military service may be voluntary or involuntary, paid or unpaid, active or inactive (that is, drills, individual mandays, and similar training periods, without orders issued.)
2. You must be employed by the Postal Service when your military service commences.
3. You must provide reasonable advance notice, written or oral, to your supervisor, manager, and/or HR local services before departing for military service, unless reasonable advance notice cannot be given because it is impossible or unreasonable.
Note: While there is no specific amount of advance notice that you must give, whether your notice is considered reasonable will be based on your circumstances. If you do not provide reasonable advance notice, the Postal Service must allow you to perform military service when you are ordered to do so. However, the military service you perform without having given reasonable advance notice is not protected by USERRA, and you are not entitled to the employment protections and benefits provided by USERRA. Receipt of this letter or the fact that you are being permitted to leave for military service does not constitute or imply an acknowledgement by the Postal Service that you have provided reasonable advance notice or that your absence to perform military service is protected by USERRA.
C. Entitlement to Reemployment or Reinstatement and Eligibility Requirements
You are eligible to return to Postal Service employment after a period of USERRA-protected military service if you meet the following requirements:
1. You must not have been absent to perform military service for more than 5 cumulative years during your employment with the Postal Service.
Periods of absence for the purpose of preparing for military service and periods following your release from military service until your request for reemployment do not count against the
5-year cumulative period, nor do some other periods.
See Exhibit 1 at the end of this section for additional information
on the periods of military service that do not count against the 5-year limitation.
If you are absent for more than 5 years of military service that is not excluded from the 5 year limit, USERRA reemployment rights do not apply and you may be separated from employment. Separation because you have exceeded the 5-year limit is non-punitive, and it will not reflect negatively on a future application for employment.
2. You must request reemployment or reinstatement in a timely manner.
§ Service of less than 31 days (or leave to take a fitness exam for service) — You must report by the beginning of the first full regularly scheduled day of work after release from USERRA-covered service, and following time for safe transportation back to your residence, plus an 8-hour rest period. You must report for work at the expiration of the 8 hour period.
§ Service of 31 to 180 days — You must apply for reemployment following separation to a supervisor or manager or to HR local services, either orally or in writing, no later than 14 days after release from USERRA-covered service.
§ Service of 181 or more days — You must apply for reemployment following separation to a supervisor or manager or to HR local services, either orally or in writing, no later than 90 days after release from USERRA-covered service.
§ Hospitalized or convalescent status ― If you are injured or aggravate an injury during military service and are hospitalized or put in a convalescent status, you have up to 2 years, or upon release from the hospital or convalescent status, whichever is earlier, to request reemployment.
3. Your military service must be creditable. If you are separated from military service with a Dishonorable Discharge, Bad Conduct Discharge, or Other Than Honorable Discharge, you are not eligible for reemployment under USERRA.
4. You must provide documentation that shows the following when you apply for reemployment:
§ Service lasting less than 31 days (or leave to take a fitness exam for military service) ― No documentation is required. Your supervisor or manager may check with your military command to verify service. You may be required to provide contact information for your military command.
§ Service lasting 31 days or more ― Documentation is required that shows the length of your military service, the character of your separation from military service, and the date of your separation from military service. (A DD Form 214 (Member 4 Copy), Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, is a document that contains all of the required information.)
§ Disability incurred during military service ― If you incur a medical condition or injury during military service that prevents you from performing the essential tasks of your Postal Service job, it is your responsibility to provide the Postal Service with medical documentation that explains your limitations and work restrictions. This documentation is required in order to reemploy you in the proper position. USERRA provides for special placement and training for employees who are unable to return to their regular position because of a disability that is incurred or aggravated during military service.
If documentation is not readily available, you are still entitled to be promptly reemployed. However, you are required to obtain the required documents, and if you are unable to do so, to assist the Postal Service to get the documents.
D. Entitlement to Return to Your Escalator Position
USERRA entitles you, as an employee who has been absent to perform military service, regardless of the duration of that service, to return to employment in the position or job that you would have attained but for your military service. This position is known as the "escalator position." For example, if you are a craft employee and would have been eligible to bid on a position that was posted during your absence, you may “bid” the position when you return and will be awarded it if you would have been the senior bidder at the time that it was posted. (Note that the escalator position may be higher or lower than the position you held before performing military service.) Still the job that you will be placed in when you return to work may or may not be the same position or job that you held before entering active military service. Duration of absence may affect your placement, as follows:
§ Service lasting less than 91 days ― You are entitled to your escalator position or job. If your position or job would not have changed, you are entitled to the exact position that you held at the time you departed for uniformed service, if that position still exists. If the escalator or old position no longer exists, you will be placed in a position or job closest in seniority, pay, and status to the position or job you would have held if it still existed.