DAL 2010 USERRA Letter
 

Anyone have the letter DAL management sent out in late 2009 about beginning to count USERRA time starting 01 Jan 2010?

Weird, I just happened to click on this category by mistake, did you post this in the Delta section?

Anyway, I may have a copy of it in my "files" at home, but unfortunately between work and vaca I plan to be out of town for the next two weeks....

I did, hunting with a shotgun. The DAL MLOA guy doesn’t seem to have a copy either....

All it basically said was they would start tracking mil leave in accordance with the 5 year limit. Prior to that Delta ignored the limit. Heard a rumor the change came because of complaints from pilots that mil leave guys were returning after going over the limit who should have been removed from the list. I suspect the truth is Delta perhaps thought enforcing the limit would reduce total mil leave.

Such a policy would have very minimal impact from 2010-present... virtually all AD orders would be exempt from the five-year limit due to OCO/GWOT/ONE. Navy at least writes them all as invol anyway, even if you informally "volunteer" for assignment. I can only think of a few niche jobs, plus perhaps some ANG jobs which would not be exempt.

In the future perhaps it will be harder to obtain exempt orders.

But if anyone is worried about the five-year limit, you need to get real smart on the rules. Involuntary orders are always exempt. Most orders linked to operations are exempt. Orders which support operations indirectly are usually exempt (ex. IP training squadron members to deploy for real-world ops).

Among other complexities, orders DO NOT have to state that they are exempt, or invol, in order to be exempt. That's a nice feature that some organizations add to orders to smooth the process for their members but it has led some employers to conclude that the absence of such language means the orders are not exempt, which is usually incorrect.

It's actually just starting to become an issue for us. We have dudes jumping on orders to help out because so many full timers have been hired. Year or 2 here and there, then you tack on the screw job we've had with our last two "deployments" to NON-contingency operations. So you have the choice of going vol vs invol. Of course if you go voluntary, you get all he goodies but no USERRA exemption or dwell protections. If you go involuntary, you get your USERRA exemption and dwell, but none of the good benefits. Of course guys want early retirement credit, ect... so some are starting to hit limits. If we keep going to non-contingency ops, they'll be forced to go involuntary.

Also, Noble Eagle orders are NOT USERRA exempt, note yet anyway. In fact unless you're working on the staff (naturally they've taken care of themselves), most of our orders are NOT exempt...actual contingency ops aside.

What do you mean, “none of the good benefits?”

What benefits change between voluntary and non vol?

Tried digging up the e-mail from our last TSP, it had the breakdown, but I can't seem to find it. There were one or two more, but below is from memory.

Invol (12304b)
- USERRA exemption
- No early retirement credit
- No TAMP
- No Post 9/11 GI Bill credit

Vol (12301d)
- No USERRA exmption
- Early retirement credit
- TAMP
- Post 9/11 GI Bill Credit

Huh?!?

They can't deny GI Bill because you were invol.

I've never heard of early retirement having anything to do with whether you volunteered or not, at least not in the Navy.

Many voluntary orders still get USERRA exemption, depends on the duty/funding source.

For us, it's based on the type of order you are on. On the last few "deployments," our choice has been 12304b (invol) or 12301d (vol) orders. I have found the source document provided by our commanders/personnel during our spinup to our last trip, I'd be happy to send it to you. It clearly shows that 12304b (involuntary Combatant Command Mission Support) does not meet eligibility requirements for Post 9/11 GI Bill. In fact, wrt to TAMP, early retirement credit and GI Bill, they're treated the same as AT orders.

Lucky you. We essentially get the dubious choice of picking the red pill or blue pill. They put the carrot in front of voluntary because then it doesn't count for dwell purposes. So they get you for this deployment, but you remain eligible for later invols. Anyway, same document mentioned above, shows invol orders are not eligible for early retirement credit.

Supposedly they're "fixing" it, but the checks been in the mail for over 5 years...


In my ANG fighter squadron, there isn't a single pilot on continuous orders that are USERRA exempt. Even with an alert mission on base (O.N.E.), we have zero exempt orders. But sure stat tours at NGB and various other random assignments may get you exempt orders.

Honestly, wrt to exemption, I couldn't care less for me. I have have absolutely zero desire to go back on full time orders for anything other than squadron TDYs and our deployments. But I can see a problem looming as many of our guys are running out of USERRA time not the mention the desire to put up with all the added BS that continues to stack up. Basically, as with many other things in life, the Commanders up high, don't see it as a problem because we're "plugging the holes in the damn," for now...