A man who left his city job to serve his country is not entitled to sue under the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), according to a ruling by the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Oakley Dean Baldwin, a municipal waste manager who served as a chief warrant officer in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves, lost his appeal in his lawsuit against the City of Greensboro, his former employer who he accuses of discriminating against him when he left his position to enter active duty.
USERRA is intended to prevent discrimination against people who are currently or who have served in the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard or other uniformed services. Under USERRA, individuals who return from serving their country are to be reemployed in their civilian jobs upon return and are not supposed to be at any disadvantage in their careers because of their time away from the job.
In this recent ruling, the judges determined that the man had waited too long to file suit. Although the Veterans’ Benefit and Improvement Act, passed in 2008, states that there is no statute of limitations on filing such a complaint, the judges’ published opinion agrees with the District Court’s finding that the statute cannot be applied retroactively to USERRA claims.
According to the Department of Labor, the Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS) reviewed 1,548 USERRA complaints in 2011, up from 1,438 complaints in 2010.
Click here for more information on USERRA.
Click here to find out if USERRA applies to your employment case.
Author Bio
Valerie Johnson
Founder
Valerie Johnson is a North Carolina personal injury and workers’ compensation attorney dedicated to helping injured and working people across the state. A board-certified specialist since 2000, she is the Immediate Past President of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice and author of North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Law: A Practical Guide to Success at Every Stage of a Claim.
