On December 31, 2011, President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the Department of Defense, also expands certain rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) to cover National Guard members who respond to national emergencies within the US.

USERRA protects an employee's right to reemployment when returning to work after serving in the uniformed services for, in most cases, less than five years. Exceptions to the five-year limit, listed in 38 U.S.C. 4312(c)(4), previously included, among other things:

For more detailed information on the exceptions, see Practice Note, Military Leave Law: Employees' Reemployment Rights under USERRA: Five-year Limit for Military Leave.

The new law expands this list of exceptions from the five-year limit to include full-time National Guard duty, other than training, when authorized by the President or the Secretary of Defense for responding to a national emergency declared by the President and supported by federal funds. Service for this purpose will no longer count toward USERRA's five-year cumulative limit.

In light of this change, employers should be aware that even domestic deployments for National Guard personnel may now be exempted from time limitations on USERRA reemployment rights. For more information on employees' rights under USERRA, see Practice Notes, Discrimination: Overview: USERRA and Military Leave Law.

The final bill, H.R. 1540, also provides that participation in TRICARE, the federal government’s healthcare program for active duty and retired military members and their families, does not make healthcare providers federal contractors or subcontractors subject to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.