An opinion letter is an official written opinion by VETS of how the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) applies in specific circumstances presented by an employer, employee, or other entity requesting the opinion.
Review Existing Guidance
Before requesting an opinion letter, please consult the following agency guidance and compliance assistance materials which may address your question:
- Know your rights
- Compliance Assistance
- USERRA Resources
- USERRA Training
- File a Claim
- USERRA Advisor
- USERRA Pocket Guide
- Veterans Preference Advisor
Preparing Your Opinion Letter Request
When you ask for an opinion letter, you must confirm in writing that:
- You are not involved in a USERRA investigation, and
- You are not asking for an opinion to use in a lawsuit that started before your request.
What to include:
- The specific USERRA provision and regulation(s) with respect to which an opinion is sought;
- The requestor’s name and/or organization;
- The requestor's email address (to which a receipt confirmation of the request may be sent);
- A telephone number should VETS need to discuss the request with the requestor;
- A description of any facts that might be relevant to the opinion sought (e.g., the nature of the employer's business; an employee's uniformed service and absence from employment dates, characterization of uniformed service, job duties, or work schedule; the type of adverse employment action and amount and structure of any pay and benefits, etc.);
- Please do not include any personal privacy information (e.g., social security numbers, etc.) in the content of your request for guidance. Additionally, please do not include information in your request that you consider to be a trade secret or confidential commercial information. Any information that you include in the content of your request may be incorporated into any response that we provide; such responses are made available to the public on the VETS website.
Veterans’ Employment and Training Service will deny all future opinion letter requests from any party who fails to comply with these representations.
Submit your Opinion Letter Request
If after consulting existing agency guidance and compliance assistance materials you still wish to request an opinion letter, please submit your guidance request via email to VetsOpinionLetter@dol.gov.
VETS exercises discretion in determining which requests for opinion letters will be responded to and the appropriate form of guidance to be issued in response. VETS processes requests for guidance as expeditiously as possible.
A requestor may withdraw his or her request for an opinion at any time prior to the issuance of the guidance; withdrawal requests may be documented in a letter or email sent by the requestor.