Governor Corzine has signed a bill guaranteeing job protections for employees on military leave “in time of war or emergency.”
Under preexisting law, an employer is obliged to reinstate an employee who leaves for military service, without loss of seniority, unless circumstances have so changed as to make it impossible or unreasonable to do so.
Effectively immediately, the law now provides that if circumstances make it impossible or unreasonable to reinstate the employee, the employer must “restore such person to any available position, if requested by such person, for which the person is able or qualified to perform the duties.”
The bill makes no mention of a situation where the available position pays less than the former position held by the returning employee.