I'm struggling to get my employer to support my service in the USAR. No violations of USERRA yet (that I know of) but they made it clear in my otherwise stellar annual review that I am out of office too much for "military stuff". I quickly countered as over the last 12 calendar months I have only technically missed 5 work days for AT, and have taken less than what we are allowed for vacation over that same time period.
I know that per USERRA they cannot count my AT days as vacation, yet they are also under no obligation to pay me for that time either. I offered this as a potential way to resolve this issue, to which they said it is not a pay issue as much as just a matter of time as we are a very small firm (4.5 employees) so when any one of us is gone it significantly impacts our operations.
I feel very strongly about this topic for a number of reasons - 15 year of service so far and am of course planning to stay until at least 20. I have made choices in my Reserve service to try to dial back to less demanding roles so I could focus more on my primary career and family etc. One of the main reasons I am even able to work for such a small firm (with very limited benefits) is due to having access to Tricare Reserve Select. Our firm was founded by a West Point grad, one of our owners is a grad (who was also in the Guard at one point), I'm a grad and I'd say 1/3 of our clients have a military background so this is hypocritical in my opinion.
Any thoughts on how to handle this - specifically from those in a similar situation (i.e. small private company)? I'd prefer not to file a dispute with ESGR if possible, or at least not yet.
I know that per USERRA they cannot count my AT days as vacation, yet they are also under no obligation to pay me for that time either. I offered this as a potential way to resolve this issue, to which they said it is not a pay issue as much as just a matter of time as we are a very small firm (4.5 employees) so when any one of us is gone it significantly impacts our operations.
I feel very strongly about this topic for a number of reasons - 15 year of service so far and am of course planning to stay until at least 20. I have made choices in my Reserve service to try to dial back to less demanding roles so I could focus more on my primary career and family etc. One of the main reasons I am even able to work for such a small firm (with very limited benefits) is due to having access to Tricare Reserve Select. Our firm was founded by a West Point grad, one of our owners is a grad (who was also in the Guard at one point), I'm a grad and I'd say 1/3 of our clients have a military background so this is hypocritical in my opinion.
Any thoughts on how to handle this - specifically from those in a similar situation (i.e. small private company)? I'd prefer not to file a dispute with ESGR if possible, or at least not yet.