The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) protects servicemembers and veterans from discrimination because of their service and allows them to regain their civilian jobs upon return from service. Congress applied USERRA to the legislative branch of the federal government through the Congressional Accountability Act.
In 2009, the OCWR Board adopted and requested congressional approval of regulations to implement USERRA. In 2023, the OCWR Board made minor amendments to its USERRA regulations and sought congressional approval of the superseding, amended regulations. Among the minor changes to the regulations, the 2023 amendments update references to the OCWR’s current administrative dispute resolution procedures.
The pending amended regulations appeared in substantively-identical versions in both the House and Senate editions of the Congressional Record for April 18, 2023:
House Edition | Senate Edition
Previous Regulatory Actions
The now-superseded pending regulations appeared in substantively-identical versions in both the House and Senate editions of the Congressional Record for February 2, 2009:
House Edition | Senate Edition
Prior to submitting its adopted USERRA regulations for congressional approval in 2009, the Board published proposed USERRA regulations in the Congressional Record for public comment. The Board’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was published in substantively- identical versions in both the House and Senate editions of the Congressional Record for April 21, 2008, and May 8, 2008, respectively:
House Edition | Senate Edition
The Board received the following comments in response to the 2008 NPRM: