II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1607 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for certain rights and 

benefits for persons who are absent from positions of employment to 

receive medical treatment for service-connected disabilities, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 6, 2009 

Mr. BROWN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for certain 

rights and benefits for persons who are absent from 

positions of employment to receive medical treatment 

for service-connected disabilities, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wounded Veteran Job 

5 Security Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RIGHTS OF PERSONS WHO RECEIVE TREATMENT 

2 FOR ILLNESSES, INJURIES, AND DISABIL3 ITIES INCURRED IN OR AGGRAVATED BY 

4 SERVICE IN THE UNIFORMED SERVICES. 

5 (a) RIGHTS OF PERSONS WHO RECEIVE TREAT6 MENT.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 43 

8 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by add9 ing at the end the following new section: 

10 ‘‘§ 4320. Rights of persons absent from employment 

11 for treatment of service-connected dis12 abilities 

13 ‘‘(a) RETENTION.—Subject to subsection (e), a per14 son who is absent from a position of employment by rea15 son of the receipt of medical treatment for a service-con16 nected disability is entitled to be retained by the person’s 

17 employer. 

18 ‘‘(b) SENIORITY.—A person who is absent from em19 ployment by reason of the receipt of medical treatment 

20 for a service-connected disability and who is entitled to 

21 be retained by the person’s employer under subsection (a) 

22 is entitled to the seniority and other rights and benefits 

23 determined by seniority that the person had on the date 

24 of the commencement of such treatment plus the addi25 tional seniority and rights and benefits that such person 


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1 would have attained if the person had remained continu2 ously employed. 

3 ‘‘(c) BENEFITS.—(1) A person who is absent from 

4 a position of employment by reason of the receipt of med5 ical treatment for a service-connected disability and who 

6 is entitled to be retained by the person’s employer under 

7 subsection (a) shall be— 

8 ‘‘(A) deemed to be on furlough or leave of ab9 sence while receiving such treatment; and 

10 ‘‘(B) entitled to such other rights and benefits 

11 not determined by seniority as are generally provided 

12 by the employer of the person to employees having 

13 similar seniority, status, and pay who are on fur14 lough or leave of absence under a contract, agree15 ment, policy, practice, or plan in effect at the com16 mencement of such service or established while such 

17 person is so absent. 

18 ‘‘(2)(A) Subject to subparagraph (C), a person de19 scribed in subparagraph (B) is not entitled to rights and 

20 benefits under paragraph (1)(B). 

21 ‘‘(B) A person described in this subparagraph is a 

22 person who— 

23 ‘‘(i) is absent from a position of employment by 

24 reason of the receipt of medical treatment for a serv25 ice-connected disability; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) knowingly provides written notice of intent 

2 not to return to a position of employment after re3 ceiving such treatment. 

4 ‘‘(C) For the purposes of this paragraph, the em5 ployer shall have the burden of proving that a person 

6 knowingly provided clear written notice of intent not to 

7 return to a position of employment after being absent 

8 from employment by reason of the receipt of medical treat9 ment and, in doing so, was aware of the specific rights 

10 and benefits to be lost under subparagraph (A). 

11 ‘‘(3) A person deemed to be on furlough or leave of 

12 absence under this subsection while receiving medical 

13 treatment for a service-connected disability shall not be 

14 entitled under this subsection to any benefits to which the 

15 person would not otherwise be entitled if the person had 

16 remained continuously employed. 

17 ‘‘(4) Such person may be required to pay the em18 ployee cost, if any, of any funded benefit continued pursu19 ant to paragraph (1) to the extent other employees on fur20 lough or leave of absence are so required. 

21 ‘‘(5) The entitlement of a person to coverage under 

22 a health plan is provided for under section 4317 of this 

23 title. 

24 ‘‘(d) LEAVE.—Any person who is absent from a posi25 tion of employment with an employer by reason of the reVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:52 Aug 07, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1607.IS S1607

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1 ceipt of medical treatment for a service-connected dis2 ability shall be permitted, upon request of that person, to 

3 use during the period during which the person is so ab4 sent, any vacation, annual, medical, or similar leave with 

5 pay accrued by the person before the commencement of 

6 such period. No employer may require any such person 

7 to use vacation, annual, family, medical, or similar leave 

8 during such period. 

9 ‘‘(e) EXCEPTIONS.—(1) An employer is not required 

10 to comply with the requirements of this section if— 

11 ‘‘(A) the employer’s circumstances have so 

12 changed as to make such compliance impossible or 

13 unreasonable; 

14 ‘‘(B) such compliance would impose an undue 

15 hardship on the employer; or 

16 ‘‘(C) the employment from which the person is 

17 absent by reason of the receipt of medical treatment 

18 is for a brief, nonrecurrent period and there is no 

19 reasonable expectation that such employment will 

20 continue indefinitely or for a significant period. 

21 ‘‘(2) In any proceeding involving an issue of wheth22 er— 

23 ‘‘(A) any compliance referred to in paragraph 

24 (1) is impossible or unreasonable because of a 

25 change in an employer’s circumstances; 


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1 ‘‘(B) such compliance would impose an undue 

2 hardship on the employer; or 

3 ‘‘(C) the employment referred to in paragraph 

4 (1)(C) is for a brief, nonrecurrent period and there 

5 is no reasonable expectation that such employment 

6 will continue indefinitely or for a significant period, 

7 the employer shall have the burden of proving the impos8 sibility or unreasonableness, undue hardship, or the brief 

9 or nonrecurrent nature of the employment without a rea10 sonable expectation of continuing indefinitely or for a sig11 nificant period.’’. 

12 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec13 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 

14 by inserting after the item relating to section 4319 

15 the following new item: 

‘‘4320. Rights of persons absent from employment for treatment of service-connected disabilities.’’. 

16 (b) HEALTH PLAN.—Section 4317 of such title is 

17 amended by adding at the end the following new sub18 section: 

19 ‘‘(c)(1) This section shall apply with respect to a per20 son who is absent from a position of employment by rea21 son of the receipt of medical treatment for a service-con22 nected disability (other than a person described in section 

23 4320(c)(2)(B) of this title) on the same basis as a person 


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1 who is absent from a position of employment by reason 

2 of service in the uniformed services. 

3 ‘‘(2) In the case of a person who is absent from a 

4 position of employment by reason of the receipt of medical 

5 treatment for a service-connected disability (other than a 

6 person described in section 4320(c)(2)(B) of this title), the 

7 period during which the person is so absent shall be treat8 ed as a period of service in the uniformed services for pur9 poses of this section.’’. 

10 (c) PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION AND ACTS OF

11 REPRISAL.—Section 4311 of such title is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (a)— 

13 (A) by inserting after ‘‘uniformed service’’ 

14 the following: ‘‘, or who has an illness, injury, 

15 or disability determined by the Secretary of 

16 Veterans Affairs to have been incurred in or ag17 gravated by such service,’’; and 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘or obligation’’ and insert19 ing ‘‘obligation, or receipt of treatment for that 

20 illness, injury, or disability’’; and 

21 (2) in subsection (c)(1)— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘or obligation for service’’ 

23 the first time it appears and inserting ‘‘obliga24 tion for service, or receipt of treatment for an 

25 illness, injury, or disability determined by the 


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1 Secretary of Veterans Affairs to have been in2 curred in or aggravated by service’’; and 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘or obligation for service’’ 

4 the second time it appears and inserting ‘‘obli5 gation for service, or receipt of treatment’’. 

6 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 this section shall apply with respect to medical treatment 

8 received on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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