Supremes to Hear USERRA Case

| July 25, 2010

Military.com reports that the case of a former U.S. Army Reserve Sgt is heading to the Supreme Court.

Vincent Staub sued his former employer, Proctor Hospital of Peoria, Ill., in 2004 after being fired from his job. He claims he was let go after fellow employees, bitter or resentful over his taking time off for military service, conspired to damage his job performance. Staub won in district court in Illinois but had the verdict overturned by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2009.

I’m hoping that this is a strong case.  As others report in the article, if the court rules for the employer, the fallout will cripple USERRA. National Guard and Reserve forces are essential to our national security and must be protected from predatory employment practices.

That having been said, most vets I work with don’t want to file USERRA complaints because they believe that they will face discrimination if they do get their jobs back.  The Supremes need to make sure USERRA keeps it’s teeth.

Of course who knows which way they’ll go.  Maybe they’ll rule that Reservists aren’t people so they don’t need jobs or maybe they will rule that employers have the right to be assholes to returning veterans.  Who knows?

Category: Politics

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redc1c4

the law will likely be found to only apply to those who pretend to be veterans, so as to protect their right to free speech.

CPT Me

This makes me a bit nervous. The worst thing they could do is start dismantling employment rights of reserve/guard members. Such a ruling would have to come from people who never served and consequently don’t understand the level of committment in terms of time and work outside of drill, and therefore can’t quantify the national security dynamic. That’s not even taking into account how volunteer mobilizations will suffer as people will have to choose civilian job over service. Of course next would come creditors, landlords, etc who will then try to dismantle the SCRA.

VTWoody

When I left for basic, my employer fired me the day I shipped out, stating he couldn’t hold my position while I was gone. When I returned, there was no position available. I took my complaint to the ESGR rep for my area and was told that because I was going back to school “eventually” that they weren’t interested in my case. For that reason I’ve lost all faith in the program, the people, the organization. I hope the courts find for the side of the employer so we can all see just how worthless these “veteran organizations” are.

CPT Me

I’m mobilized right now and my employer, upset about my absence, is currently trying to force me to quit through various passive/aggressive means since they can’t just fire me. My civilian work product is great and this only started after I was missed a few months onto the mob and they started being openly resentful.

Dan

When I got back from MP OSUT(2006), my employer refused to give me my old position back (they had hired someone while I was gone) They had made up a bs position for me of just busy work. So, I gave them a two week notice: give me my position back or I’m leaving… they refused so I left. (Which was fine – it was security at a hospital.. no big loss) It was after a few months of job hunting that I found out they were giving out negative references when employers were calling. ESGR folks said they best they could do was get my old position back, but couldn’t do anything else.. Everyone talks about supporting the troops, but when the rubber meets the road, those kind of employers are no better than Matthis… (At least Matthis doesn’t pretend to like soldiers)

Anonymous

If you are a reservist and need employment law help. Google then call Kathryn Piscatelli. She is the expert in the field of userra rights law. The esgr is a no toothed mediator. That means your employer has to be willing to mediate. They are betting on you giving up and moving on. That does no good for the guy coming behind you.

iraq vet

dont give up the ship im currently fighting a initial hire complaint i started with esgr and dept of labor just finished up now jag is going to look into it and ive got an appointment with an aclu attorney the company refuses to hire me because im in the guard we got a lot of evidence in the deposition the dol took i cant reveal any at this time but as soon as this is over i will post everything on this blog you can contact your governor and thr secratary of defense the honorable Mr. Gates THERES MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT YOU HAVE TO PERSISTANT be like a fly in thier ear somebody will listen talk to your unit HR they are a tremendous help

iraq vet

if we dont stand up for our rights who will

KCKKen

I’m currently having a USERRA case investigated by the Department of Labor(DoL). What’s interesting to note is the company that fired me (168 days into a 180-day probation) wouldn’t give me a copy of my employee file when _I_ asked for it, but when contacted by DoL it showed up right away. And as soon as I opened it, I found some real good evidence that adds to the list of BS over my firing.

While I can’t comment on ESGR, I do know if you contact DoL they have a timeline inside of which they have to operate (unless you agree to give them more time) and investigators that are very thorough and keep you informed.