New Veterans Law Makes USERRA Compliance More Crucial

Employers should be aware the federal law that protects veterans and service members has been amended by a new law, making the stakes higher.

The Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act was enacted early in 2025. As a result, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994 changed.

Here are the details.

What the Veterans Law Says

Under USERRA, employers are prohibited from discriminating against or retaliating against current uniformed service members or veterans. Among the other provisions of USERRA, employees who leave their jobs to perform military service must be allowed to continue their employer-provided health plan coverage.

The 2025 law takes steps to improve the reemployment rights of members of the armed forces.

For example, the Dole Act removes the phrase “encourage noncareer service in the uniformed services” from USERRA, replacing it with “encourage service in the uniformed services.”

Next, the new law inserts the phrase “or other retaliatory action” into the anti-retaliation section of USERRA. So now, USERRA prohibits employers from taking any adverse employment action or other retaliatory action against employees for exercising their rights under the law.

In other words, veterans and service members will have an easier time from a legal standpoint proving retaliation.

Another high-impact change is the determination of liquidated damages:

• An employer may be required to pay interest at a rate of 3% per year on lost wages or benefits. Previously, no rate was provided for the courts.
• In the past, if an employer’s violations were willful, it could owe liquidated damages equal to an individual’s lost wages and benefits. Due to the new law, a court may require an employer to pay an individual the greater of $50,000 or the amount of lost wages and benefits. That’s significant because even if a court finds there were no lost wages or benefits, an employer could still be on the hook financially due to discrimination or retaliation violations.

Another change related to reemployment: The Dole Act contains a provision on mandatory attorney fees being rewarded. If a covered individual prevails in federal court, the court will award reasonable attorney fees, the 2025 law states.

In the past, such an award was optional, but not anymore.

The Dole Act makes many other changes — the new law also covers healthcare, economic opportunity, disability, homelessness and other issues.