"Until recently, most employers familiar with USERRA's intricacies were confident that the statute does not require paid leave for military service. The Act, itself, is explicit in its pronouncement that servicemembers are entitled to up to five years of cumulative unpaid leave. The spate of class-action lawsuits targeting commercial airlines -- whose pilot workforces are made up of high percentages of service members -- has tossed that basic premise up in the air."  MORE >>