SaltyDog

I'm with Rickair. He is credible USERRA IMHO.
All military service members must read USERRA.
You should not provide documentation outside USERRA. DOL VETS will simply say you should understand that an employer can ask for whatever they want. You only must follow USERRA. In this case, under 30 days Don't provide the non USERRA required documentation. Employers will ask, but cannot demand. They will demand often to see what one will provide.
Also, documentation does not have to be orders. Employers may not like the USERRA acceptable documentation, but if you follow USERRA, they have no recourse. Read the following gouge

Home Page
Read the Law Review Index (Left top of page)
Also:
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve > USERRA > USERRA for Service Members

Thumbnail sketch.
ESGR is liaison, no enforcement, good objective source of info for employers, hopefully helpful. Many employers know they do not have enforcement capability and not likely to get an employer to move their position. Good first move, but a DOL VETS complaint is the start of "real" enforcement.
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Airlines and other employers do have USERRA revisions in their sights in DC.
They also lobby DOD for more restrictive than USERRA guidance. It has happened in the USAFR and USNR in the past. (Provide documentation for less than 30 days etc)

JerkStore

This is good stuff. I am relatively new to my airline, and have been on a lot of mil leave since I started. (2 deployments within the first year of employment) They always ask for orders or a letter from the CO or DO for any mil leave that I request. After reading your link, I'm glad to learn that I am not required to provide documentation for every training period that I need to perform for the USAFR. This section in particular was the most helpful. Law Review 14010

Thanks Saltydog!

Flamer

They are no longer accepting letters from the unit commander.

What documents satisfy the requirement that the employee establish eligibility for reemployment after a period of service of more than thirty days?

(a) Documents that satisfy the requirements of USERRA include the following:

(1) DD (Department of Defense) 214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty;

(2) Copy of duty orders prepared by the facility where the orders were fulfilled carrying an endorsement indicating completion of the described service;

(3) Letter from the commanding officer of a Personnel Support Activity or someone of comparable authority;

(4) Certificate of completion from military training school;

(5) Discharge certificate showing character of service;

What is a PSA commander?

airborne840

As a part time helo guy with the Guard that may be a challenge. We are not on orders, when flying during the week. We fill out an AFTP sheet for each flight and it is eventually processed on an LES. I will ask my airline if the AFTP sheet will count to excuse me for my absence. Thanks for the help everyone...

rickair7777

USERRA does not require any documentation for less than 30 days. If you're comfortable with throwing them a bone I would offer to give them one or the other. If that's not good enough, then dig in and tell them to contact your CO.

If one piece of official paper is not enough for a few days of drill, then they're just harassing you, no need to play that game.

There's a difference between cooperation in the spirit of good relations and putting up with BS. Figure out which of those you're dealing with.

erthboundmisfit

I work for the Dept of Veterans Affairs currently, and of all the gov't depts (other than DoD) that you'd think would be supportive, I ran into a middle-manager who suddenly decided that she alone would be deciding when I would be 'released' to perform IDT, deciding how often/how much Reserve work I would do each year, and what constituted 'proof'. As a recruiter, my duty involves quite a bit of alone time- driving, phone work, email, etc., and she tried to tell my commander that he needed to be with me in order to sign off on my duty.

One issue was that we started off by trying to play 'nice', not fully realizing how malicious she was going to get. Every piece of information we provided was twisted around and used against me (though ineffective).

USERRA was pretty useless. Their quote, "Does she listen to you? 'Cause she's not listening to me."

Though I couldn't get her to put the guidance in an email (believe me, I asked repeatedly), she did repeat it in front of our Union rep and to others in the section. Grievance was settled by mortified higher-ups with an apology.

The law is like a car's drivetrain- it matters most when the rubber meets the road.

HappyToBeHere

DP/FSS/MPF/Personnel whatever the hell they call themselves on that day of the week

fishforfun

Closed for training is usually what they call themselves.

Slim11

I had a similar occurrence during the early stages on my NG career.

A crew scheduler called my supervisor stating "orders" were required for me to get removed from any trips conflicting with drill weekends. I was a flight attendant at the time in the mid 1980s.

I was called in to discuss how I would comply with the scheduler's request. It went something like this...

Sup(-ervisor): Crew scheduling sent me a message saying you will be removed from your trip this time but must provide orders for upcoming drill weekends.

ME: Drill weekends are inactive duty for training. Orders are not cut for IDT periods. I can't give you something which doesn't exist.

Sup: Well, they need something from your unit.

ME: Our contract doesn't require such notification (I quoted section and paragraph). Company regulations don't require such notification (quoted administrative section and payroll section). Federal law doesn't require such notification.

Sup: Can your commander write a note for you?

ME: My commander is responsible for 1,000 soldiers in his brigade...no, he cannot write me a note and I won't ask him.

Sup: The next time scheduling requests orders, you will comply.

ME: Once again...I can't give them something which doesn't exist. They have a copy of my yearly training schedule which shows scheduled drill weekends.

That was the end of the conversation. I didn't have problems with her again or the company until I left several years later.