Veterans Day Reminder: Employee-Veterans May Be Entitled to Time Off From Work

Author: Melissa Burdorf, XpertHR Legal Editor

With Veterans Day quickly approaching, employers should be mindful that other than being a federal legal holiday, certain states, such as Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Oregon require employers to provide employee-veterans with a job-protected day off. For example, starting this year, Oregon employers will be required to provide employees who are veterans with an unpaid or paid leave to celebrate Veterans Day.

If an employer operates in a state that requires it to provide its employees who are veterans with a day off it should consider the following:

• Employees may need to provide notice of their intent to take the day off and proof that they are in fact a veteran (e.g., a federal certificate of release or discharge from active duty) under the applicable state law;
• Whether providing the time off will cause significant economic or operational harm (i.e., determine if it is an undue hardship) or harm to the public (e.g., in cases where the employee is an emergency responder);
• If the employer has a legal obligation to notify the employee-veteran if the time off will be permitted and whether it is paid or unpaid (which usually depends upon an employer's policy); and
• If an employer denies the employee-veteran the day off (because of an undue hardship) it may need to allow the employee to take another day off within the year.