By Jory Heckman
Federal News Radio

Just in time for Veterans Day, the Merit Systems Protection Board has released a new report that navigates some of the issues that veteran employees have with agency managers when it comes to veterans’ rights in the workplace.

At its core, the new guidance advises former members of the military about rights contained in the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

More importantly, Sharon Roth, the senior research analyst at MSPB, warned veterans about the different deadlines and processes they must follow to file a claim, depending on which law applies to their situation.

“The laws serve slightly different purposes. One it to reward and the other is to protect. And the means by which a person seeks redress &mash; meaning they go and say ‘Wait a minute, I didn’t get my rights’ &mash; differs between those two laws, and that’s one of the things we want to get from this new report we just issued,” Roth said on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

“There’s very strict rules for how to seek that redress, and it’s very important that the veteran follows those rules because the board could be what we called deprived of its jurisdiction, meaning we won’t be allowed to help if certain steps haven’t been taken before the person comes to the board.”

While the report makes recommendations to President Barack Obama and Congress regarding veteran workforce laws, Roth said agency managers should also understand the issues detailed in the report.

“The laws for veterans hiring can be incredibly complicated, and that can lead to misunderstandings about rights and sometimes deliberate actions to try to deny a veteran a right,” Roth said. “So we just wanted to make it clear for everyone what veterans are entitled to and what they can do to seek redress if they are denied those entitlements.”

USERRA, Roth said, is designed to make sure that a service member’s career is not harmed by their decision to serve.

“When someone goes off to serve, they leave their civilian position, go off to serve in the military and come back, they get their job back, as well as any increases they would have gotten had they been there doing the civilian work,” Roth said. “It also protects against discrimination in hiring so an employer can’t say, ‘You know, I don’t want to hire someone who might get called up for the [National] Guard. That would just be inconvenient for me. USARA makes it very clear that’s illegal.”

VEOA, however, gives veterans some advantages when applying for government jobs.

“Sometimes it’s the ability to compete for a job when many U.S. citizens aren’t allowed to compete,” Roth said. “Sometimes it’s preference over other competitors, sometimes it’s a higher retention in a RIF (reduction in force).”

If veterans believe their rights have been violated under these workforce laws, Roth said winning the case often means staying informed of deadlines and knowing where to bring the case, conditions that are especially strict with VEOA.

“VEOA has incredibly strict deadlines that come from the law,” Roth said. “It’s in statute. We don’t have any flexibility on that.”

Anyone with a VEOA claim must first seek redress from the Department of Labor within 60 days. If Labor cannot fix the problem, Roth said the veteran must contact the MSPB within 15 days of Labor’s notification that it cannot help. In USERRA cases, veterans are not required to seek redress from Labor.”

“It’s just important that they identify the right law and follow the rules for that law,” Roth said.

Last year, the MSPB received more than 200 VEOA cases and 200 USERRA cases. Roth said the caseload can vary greatly year to year.

“What’s really important isn’t just the number in any particular year, it’s that veterans understand that they do have that right. The ideal situation isn’t that the board tells an agency ‘You did something wrong, fix it.’ The ideal situation is that the agency comply all along or, as soon as they find out that there is a problem, they fix it so it never has to come to the board,” Roth said.

Addressing agency managers who feel overburdened by regulations in hiring, Roth said HR specialists should understand all the rights that are outlined in VEOA and USERRA in order to ensure compliance with the law.

“It’s very important that the specialists are educated about the veterans’ right and that they share that information with managers,” Roth said. “These veterans risked their lives, put their lives on hold in order to serve the country, and this is one of the ways that Congress wanted to recognize those sacrifices. So even though sometimes managers might find it a little complicated to follow all those rules, it’s still very important that they do so.”

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