Q: Am I protected under USERRA?
I am prior service. I met with a national guard recruiter 2 weeks ago and was informed I need to go to meps to swear in. I gave my boss verbal and written notice for both Monday and Tuesday that day and again that following Monday. I worked half a day on Tuesday and went to meps and came back to work on Thursday. When I got to work on Thursday morning I was fired for not giving notice of leaving work early on Tuesday to go to MEPS. Am I covered under USERRA? I live in NC and some people say nc is an at will state and I cant do anything about it.
A: It is my understanding that you are not protected by USERRA for your trip to MEPS. Unfortunately, you are only protected for the time you are actually serving. I would look at this as a good thing, your employer was probably going to be very difficult once it came time to fulfill your guard obligations and was going to look for any and all reasons to fire you going forward.
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