38 USC 3102 - Basic entitlement

View all text of Chapter 31 [§ 3100 - § 3122]

§ 3102. Basic entitlement

(a)In General.—A person shall be entitled to a rehabilitation program under the terms and conditions of this chapter if—

(1) the person—

(A) is—

(i) a veteran who has a service-connected disability rated at 20 percent or more which was incurred or aggravated in service on or after September 16, 1940; or

(ii) hospitalized or receiving outpatient medical care, services, or treatment for a service-connected disability pending discharge from the active military, naval, air, or space service, and the Secretary determines that—(I) the hospital (or other medical facility) providing the hospitalization, care, services, or treatment is doing so under contract or agreement with the Secretary concerned, or is under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or the Secretary concerned; and(II) the person is suffering from a disability which will likely be compensable at a rate of 20 percent or more under chapter 11 of this title; and

(B) is determined by the Secretary to be in need of rehabilitation because of an employment handicap; or

(2) the person is a veteran who—

(A) has a service-connected disability rated at 10 percent which was incurred or aggravated in service on or after September 16, 1940; and

(B) is determined by the Secretary to be in need of rehabilitation because of a serious employment handicap.

(b)Additional Rehabilitation Programs for Persons Who Have Exhausted Rights to Unemployment Benefits Under State Law.—

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (4), a person who has completed a rehabilitation program under this chapter shall be entitled to an additional rehabilitation program under the terms and conditions of this chapter if—

(A) the person is described by paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (a); and

(B) the person—

(i) has exhausted all rights to regular compensation under the State law or under Federal law with respect to a benefit year;

(ii) has no rights to regular compensation with respect to a week under such State or Federal law; and

(iii) is not receiving compensation with respect to such week under the unemployment compensation law of Canada; and

(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)(B)(i), a person shall be considered to have exhausted such person’s rights to regular compensation under a State law when—

(A) no payments of regular compensation can be made under such law because such person has received all regular compensation available to such person based on employment or wages during such person’s base period; or

(B) such person’s rights to such compensation have been terminated by reason of the expiration of the benefit year with respect to which such rights existed.

(3) In this subsection, the terms “compensation”, “regular compensation”, “benefit year”, “State”, “State law”, and “week” have the respective meanings given such terms under section 205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note).

(4) No person shall be entitled to an additional rehabilitation program under paragraph (1) from whom the Secretary receives an application therefor after March 31, 2014.

(Added Pub. L. 96–466, title I, § 101(a), Oct. 17, 1980, 94 Stat. 2173, § 1502; amended Pub. L. 101–237, title IV, § 423(b)(1)(A), Dec. 18, 1989, 103 Stat. 2092; Pub. L. 101–508, title VIII, § 8021(a), Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1388–347; Pub. L. 102–16, § 3(a), Mar. 22, 1991, 105 Stat. 49; renumbered § 3102, Pub. L. 102–83, § 5(a), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 406; Pub. L. 102–568, title IV, § 404(a), Oct. 29, 1992, 106 Stat. 4338; Pub. L. 104–275, title I, § 101(b), Oct. 9, 1996, 110 Stat. 3323; Pub. L. 112–56, title II, § 233(a)(1), Nov. 21, 2011, 125 Stat. 719; Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title IX, § 926(a)(41), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 3830.)