Trident University
Module 3-Case
MGT516- Legal Implications in Human Resources

Introduction
The impact of laws and regulations that affect various HRM functions are vast. Any regulation developed and made into federal law will have an impact on private sector businesses but for this analysis I will be addressing the details of two regulations and the degree of impact that they have on United States employers. The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) are the two that I will be analyzing for this third case. I have found that that USERRA has such a profound impact on the private sector that it dwarfs the affect that the Immigration and Control Act has on private sector business. I will explain why USERRA has such a profound impact while the IRCA has the least amount of impact. I will conclude this analysis by explaining how two different regulations do seem to have some similarities.
USERRA and the Immigration Reform and Control Act
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), establishes the rights and responsibilities for uniformed service members and their civilian employers. USERRA is a federal law intended to ensure that persons who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard or other uniformed services: one; are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their service; two; are promptly reemployed in their civilian jobs upon their return from duty; and three; are not discriminated against in employment based on past, present, or future military service. The law is intended to encourage uniformed service so that the United States can enjoy the protection of those services, staffed by qualified people, while maintaining a balance with the needs of private and public employers who also depend on these same individuals.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) law passed 1986 in order to control and deter illegal immigration to the United States. Its major provisions stipulate legalization of undocumented aliens who had been continuously unlawfully present since 1982, legalization of certain agricultural workers, and sanctions for employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers, and increased enforcement at U.S. borders.
USERRA-Profound Impact
The more impactful of the two would be USERRA. USEERA protects the job rights of individuals who voluntarily or involuntarily leave employment positions to perform service in the uniformed services.
USERRA affects employment, reemployment and retention in employment, when employees serve in the uniformed services. USERRA also prohibits employers from discriminating against past and present members of the uniformed services, and applicants to the uniformed services. (United States Department of Labor, 2014)
While there are benefits in having a citizen soldier as an employee, employers must be prepared to address these difficult questions along with several others that flow from the USERRA. What I have found, is that unlike other federal laws that only apply if the employer has a certain number of employees, USERRA applies to all employers.
Many employers are unaware that USERRA requires that re-employment of returning service members must be in the same seniority, status, and pay that the employee would have achieved if they had not been called to active duty and remained continuously employed with their employer. Not only must the employer award the returning veteran any pay increases and promotions they would have received, but these must be applied retroactively-effective as of the date they would have been made had the employee not been required to report to active duty.
When employees serve in the military during their employment, the company is required to either hold their jobs open or re-employ them in similar positions when they return from their military duties. Military leaves of absence may