Opinion ID: 4109699
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the person has given advance

Text: written or verbal notice of such service to such person’s employer; (2) the cumulative length of the absence . . . by reason of service in the uniformed services does not exceed five years; and . . . [(3)] the person reports to, or submits an application for reemployment to, such employer[.] 38 U.S.C. § 4312(a)(1-3) (emphasis supplied). The parties do not dispute that Appellant satisfied the criteria, and the record supports that conclusion. Thus, Section 4313 applies. Specifically, for veterans whose service period exceeded 90 days, that veteran must be promptly reemployed: (A) in the position of employment in which the person would have been employed if the continuous employment of such person with the employer had not been interrupted by such service, or a position of like seniority, status and pay, the duties of which the person is qualified to perform; or (B) in the position of employment in which the person was employed on the date of the commencement of the service in the uniformed services, or a position of like seniority, status and pay, the duties of which the person is qualified to perform, only if the 14 person is not qualified to perform the duties of a position referred to in subparagraph (A) after reasonable efforts by the employer to qualify the person. 38 U.S.C. § 4313(a)(2)(A)-(B) (emphasis supplied). The former is commonly referred to as the “escalator position” -- meaning the position a veteran “would have attained with reasonable certainty if not for the absence due to uniformed service.” 20 C.F.R. § 1002.191. This is considered the “starting point for determining the proper reemployment position.” Id. at § 1002.192. In sum, the veteran is either employed to the position he or she would have attained but for his or her service, or, if unqualified for the escalator position -- despite reasonable efforts to make him or her qualified -- to the same position held prior to service.