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Hayber, McKenna & Dinsmore

Connecticut Service Members
Employment Lawyer

Home Employee Rights Military Service
Military Service, Connecticut Employment Lawyer

Those who serve our country deserve our highest respect and admiration. They also deserve protection so that when they are done serving our country, they retain their civilian jobs. The law protects veterans, current members of the Armed Forces and those who intend to sign up from discrimination and retaliation, and guarantees their jobs will still be there after they are finished serving.

Service Members Employment Lawyer

The Connecticut service members employment lawyers at Hayber, McKenna & Dinsmore are proud to represent those who are serving or have served our country in any employment matters they may face with their civilian jobs. The law guarantees that members of the Armed Forces be restored their position upon returning from serving. We fight to make sure that happens. Fill out our online form today to contact the attorneys at Hayber, McKenna & Dinsmore.

We represent service members throughout Connecticut, including in New Haven, Milford, Stamford and Bridgeport. Our offices are located in Hartford & New Haven Connecticut in addition to Springfield Massachusetts.

Key Questions for Connecticut Military Veterans

Veterans are required to meet certain criteria to qualify for the protections in the Act that require an employer to re-employ them. The Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act (USERRA) might apply to you if you can answer “yes” to the following questions:

  • Did you provide advance written or verbal notice of service?
  • Have you served five years or less cumulative service in the uniformed services while working for your current employer?
  • Did you return to work or re-apply for re-employment in a timely manner after concluding your service?
  • Were you not separated from service by a disqualifying discharge or under anything other than honorable conditions?

If you answered “Yes” to these questions and faced negative employment action, like termination or demotion, you may have a Connecticut employment claim.

Law Protects the Jobs of Connecticut Service Members

USERRA protects the jobs of those serving our country. Under the Act, when a member of the Armed Forces is called away to duty, their jobs are to still be there when they return.

Under the law, employees who are called into the service and meet these qualifications must be re-employed at the same job when they return from service and must be treated with the same seniority as they would have had if they had been at the job instead of serving.

For example, Maria is in the Army Reserves and lives in Manchester, where she has worked as a comptroller for an insurance company for five years. The United States becomes involved in a conflict in the Middle East, and Maria is called on Active Duty to do a one-year tour of duty overseas. Upon receiving her orders, she promptly informs her boss. At the end of her year, her tour is extended for another year. She sends a letter to her employer. At the end of the second year, Maria is honorably discharged, and she notifies her employer.

When Maria returns, her employer must rehire her as a comptroller and must treat her as a comptroller with seven years seniority.

Freedom from Retaliation and Discrimination Based on Service

Your employer may not in any way discriminate or retaliate against you due to your past or present status as a member of the Armed Forces, or your intention to serve.

For instance, James works as assistant manager of a sporting goods store in New Haven and is in the Coast Guard Reserve. In seniority and performance, he should be promoted to an open manager spot, but the regional manager promotes someone else. When James inquires why, the regional manager replies that the manager must work year round, and James “has to be gone for at least two weeks per year,” presumably referring to James’s active duty. James may have a cause of action against his employer.

Contact our Connecticut Service Members Employment Attorneys

The Connecticut service members employment lawyers at Hayber, McKenna & Dinsmore are proud to represent those who have served our country in cases in which their civilian employer has discriminated against them. If you’ve served in the Armed Forces, you deserve respect.

Contact us today by filling out our online form.