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Letter Factory
Employer Letters for AFRC and ANG
Reason: Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment
Rights Act (USERRA) |
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Key Points to Writing
- While writing, remember the purpose of the letter.
- Use the right words, utilize a resource like
Merriam-Webster Online.
- Use a spell checker (F7 Word)
and avoid common misspellings
- Watch Tense Shifts, going from "s" to "ed"
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Keep the text simple
- Avoid acronyms and jargon, the people reading the letter
are not familiar with it.
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The following Employer Letter example was taken from a Word document. If you have anything you would like to
submit, please do so.
If you have found this information useful, please let me know as each letter has taken a considerable amount of time to prepare.
Copy Directly on to Unit Letter Head!
DATE
[Rank] [First] [Last]
[Unit name]
[Street Address]
[City], [State] [Zip]
[Employer]
[Street Address]
[City], [State] [Zip]
Dear [Employer]:
As the commander of a
[unit] [soldier/sailor/airman/marine],
I would like to personally
thank you for your efforts in support of the [service] program. As you know, in
recent history
National Guard and Reserve units and personnel have been activated several
times, for war,
peace keeping, nation building, and state-side relief operations. The reserve
forces account for
about half of our total military forces. Weekend drill and annual training are
absolutely essential
to maintain those military skills that Reservists need to be able to accomplish
their assigned
mission.
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment
Rights Act (USERRA) is a
Federal statute and as such affects all Guard members, Reservists and their
employers. This
statute, found at Title 38, United States Code Sections 4301-33, was designed to
minimize
employment problems that can result from Reserve military service.
To qualify for reemployment rights under USERRA,
reserve soldiers must meet five
basic conditions:
- Hold a civilian job (including most
“temporary” jobs).
- Give reasonable prior notice of
military duty to the employer.
- Not exceed five years of cumulative
active duty military service with the employer.
- Be released from active military
duty under honorable conditions.
- Report back to the civilian job in
a timely manner upon making timely request for
reemployment.
Voluntary military service, peacetime or wartime, is
fully covered under the USERRA.
Employers are entitled to receive prior notice, either verbal or written, from
their Reserve
employees or their employee’s military commander of pending military duty, and
must in return,
grant their employee’s request for absence, without exception. You cannot
condition permission
to leave for military duty upon Reservist presentation of written military
orders. I have advised
my soldiers to give their employers as much forewarning as possible. In rare
cases when call-up
is short notice, such as an emergency mission, prior employer notice will not be
required, as it
may be “unreasonable or impossible.” Employers may not require Reserve soldiers
to use
vacation pay or time saved to conduct their military duty assignments.
After periods of training or service for less than 30
days, soldiers must report back to
work at the beginning of the first regularly scheduled work period on the first
calendar day after
completion of service. However, USERRA allows travel time for safe
transportation home and
eight hours of rest before returning to work. Additionally, a Reservist who has
incurred a period
of service from 31-181 days must apply for reinstatement within 14 days of
release from active
duty. For a service member who has incurred a period of active duty in excess of
181 days he or
she must apply for reinstatement within 90 days. Please be advised that you, as
their employer,
are expected to promptly reinstate the Reserve employee. Additionally, you must
provide them
with the same seniority and status on the job they would have received if they
had never left,
training or retraining if necessary, and special protection against discharge,
except for cause, for
periods of active duty in excess of 30 days.
Your continued support and cooperation are greatly
appreciated, and are vital to the
continued adequate defense of this nation by our military forces. I have
enclosed a copy of our
[year] training dates for you. I have included the tentative dates that your
employee is expected
to report for Annual Training. It is my hope that by providing this notice of
scheduled military
training for your employee that scheduling problems can be avoided. If there are
any major
changes in this schedule, your employee, myself, or a designated representative
of this command
will notify you.
As a Reserve member myself, I can understand that
Reserve military duty commitments
may cause an undue hardship for your business. In these cases, I am prepared to
work with you
or your representative to resolve such problems whenever possible. Please notify
us as soon as
possible of any potential scheduling conflicts. If you have any other questions
about the
[service], or USERRA, please feel free to contact me or the National Committee
for Employer
Support of the Guard and Reserve (NCESGR), toll-free at 1-800-336-4590.
Sincerely,
[FIRST M.. LAST], [Rank], USAFR
Reminder, Signature lines are 5 spaces below the last line of text.
Comments: All text in blue will need
to be modified.
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