Hello, I am currently in the military, and my wife and I are getting ready to move, because I received orders. My wife was planning on giving her employers a month heads-up before we move, but is worried that they will just terminate her. Is there a law that protects her from this kind of termination?

Ann Kiernan replies:

No, there does not appear to be any law that covers her situation. For you, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) provides protection against job discrimination, but those protections have not been extended to spouses. For instance, in a recent decision which was affirmed on appeal, a federal court rejected a spouse’s claim of workplace discrimination, reasoning :

Mrs. Singletary has advanced no allegations that would trigger application of the USERRA here: she was neither a service member, nor an applicant to be a service member; nor is she alleging that she seeks to enforce a protection afforded to her deceased husband or any service member or applicant.

–Singletary v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 105 F. Supp. 3d 627, 635 (E.D. La. 2015) aff’d sub nom Singletary v United Parcel Service, 828 F.3d 342 (5th Cir. 2016).

There is a statute that covers some veterans’ spouses, however. The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRA), which applies only to federal contractors, outlaws employment discrimination against someone who the contractor knows to be the spouse of a protected veteran. See 41 CFR §60‐300.21(e).  This law covers not only Vietnam vets, but also disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans, and Armed Forces service medal veterans and their spouses.

Thank you for your question. Until I did the research for my answer, I was unaware of the job difficulties faced by military spouses, and I appreciate the opportunity to learn about this problem. Good luck to you and your family in your next posting.

Posted 01-27-2020

Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.