The only loophole I found from the following link, http://www.esgr.org/employers/thelaw.asp is the following: Notice. Under USERRA, you (or an officer from your command) must give your employer advance notice (either written or verbal) of upcoming military service of any type. Otherwise, you will not be eligible for reemployment protection following the period of military service. The only exceptions to the notification requirement would be if the giving of notice is precluded by military necessity (e.g. a classified recall) or if it is otherwise impossible or unreasonable to give notice. These exceptions to the notice requirement are expected to be very rare. Your best course of action is to give as much advance notice to your employer as possible. For an example of a notice letter from a commanding officer (in MS Word format), click here. I'm sure that Pep Boy's was given plenty of warning.