USERRA - Eligibility Service

Does anyone know if an otherwise eligible employee should receive eligibility service for periods on a military leave of absence?  Employee was called to duty shortly after hire date and question is whether such service is disregarded for purposes of calculating 1,000 HOS eligibility requirement. 

I would think they should, but what does the plan document say? If using a pre-approved document usually this type of thing is addressed in the underlying basic plan document, not the adoption agreement. 

That's an excellent question and I'm not sure I have the answer as everything I've seen references vesting and accrual service and I have not seen the term eligibility service. However it seems the intent of USERRA is to put rehired employees in a similar position they would have been in had they not been called to active duty so my gut feeling is that they would have a retro active entry date of the date they would have entered had they not been called up.

@Lou S. is on target with the intent of USERRA.  See the Department of Labor website here https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/vets/userra/ben_pens.asp

This is a link within this site https://www.dol.gov/agencies/vets/programs/userra and the Know Your Rights menu item.

The short answers, subject to some disqualifying circumstances, are yes, the individual gets eligibility service, and no, the military service is not disregarded.  These answers also apply to vesting and benefit accrual service.

@justanotheradmin in on target with reading the plan document.  There are some choices that plan sponsor can make that will affect how benefits are calculated such as adjustments to plan compensation. how hours are counted, crediting hours to avoid a break in service, treatment of an outstanding loan balance, in-service withdrawals, death benefits, make-up contributions and likely more.