Originally Posted by
sailingfun
On the flip side however you are required to notify your employer as soon as possible after you receive notification of a military duty. If you withhold that notification you lose the protections under the law.
I disagree with the implication here about "as soon as possible". While a pillar of USERRA (one of the 5 requirements) is prior notification, there is no amount of time prior that's required. You MUST provide prior notice to your employer unless some sort of emergency prevents. Think of 9/11 type of event as the level needed to not give prior notice, then you still must give notice ASAP afterwards. For anything less than this "prior" notice is the wording under the law.
Now, in the implementation notes and interpretations in the USERRA implementation section of the Dept of Labor website uses the word "should" in that the uniformed service member "should" provide as much advance notice as he can to minimize the impact on the employer. No where does it say ASAP or give specific time requirements. Also the word "should" is non compulsory in the definitions section.
I would submit that any uniformed service member has the right and duty to provide accurate info to the employer and if one must wait until closer to the military duty date to provide such notice (when schedules are more firmed up) that is fully acceptable under USERRA as long as the notice is PRIOR.