HR Law 101 Ep. 9: How Does USERRA Apply To Your Company?
The aerospace and defense industry operates in a complex regulatory environment in which labor and employment law is continuously evolving. Recent developments relating to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment...more
The stated purpose of the “Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act” (Dole Act) is to improve Department of Veterans Affairs programs for home and community-based services for...more
The 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, also known as the Dole Act, was signed into law by President Biden on January 2, 2025. This legislation expands employment protections for veterans under the...more
On January 2, 2025, then-President Biden signed into law the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (Dole Act), a bipartisan bill that expands healthcare and other benefits for...more
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) prohibits employment discrimination and retaliation based on an employee’s military status or obligations. If an individual’s military status or their...more
In August 2024, pilots employed by Alaska Airlines and members of the Air Force Reserves scored a major victory in a federal appeals court. In Synoracki v. Alaska Airlines, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth...more
In December 2024, a U.S. Army Reservist and professional chef filed a lawsuit against filmmaker Woody Allen, his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, and their house manager, alleging that he was fired due to his complaints of improper...more
This wonderful nation – and the working economies it affords – will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. That philosophy is advanced in the workplace through the statutory and regulatory...more
In Porter v. Trans State Holdings, Inc., No. 1:23-CV-00263 (D. Colo. Nov. 7, 2024), a federal district court dismissed a Naval Reserve pilot’s Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) lawsuit...more
As the name suggests, the United Services Employment and Reemployment Act (“USERRA”) requires employers of active-duty service members to hold open the employee/service members job while deployed—whether overseas, for...more
On August 22, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Synoracki v. Alaska Airlines, Inc., reviving a class action under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act...more
The landscape of federal military leave law may be shifting. In the past three years, four federal appellate courts have held that an employer may be required to offer paid leave for an employee’s military service where the...more
A little more than a year after U.S. Army veteran Le Roy Torres kept his case alive at the U.S. Supreme Court, a Texas jury voted unanimously to award him $2.49 million on the claim that his former employer, the Texas...more
On February 19, 2023, the City of San Francisco’s new ordinance, the Military Leave Pay Protection Act (“MLPPA”), went into effect, which requires private San Francisco employers who have at least 100 employees worldwide, to...more
Do you have to pay an employee on military leave? Generally, you only have to pay for military leave if you pay employees on “comparable” leaves. So what is a comparable leave? In Clarkson v. Alaska Airlines, Inc., the Ninth...more
Thanks to a recent ruling by the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Arizona), Alaska Airlines now faces a jury trial in a class action claim that it...more
On Feb. 1, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that employers who provide paid short-term leave for some reasons — such as for sickness, bereavement or jury duty — must also pay employees who take...more
In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court held state agencies are not immune from claims brought under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) in the case Torres v. Texas Department of...more
In the wake of the recent Ukraine invasion, more U.S. troops are being deployed to Europe to support NATO countries. Among these are members of the National Reserve and National Guard, who typically maintain civilian jobs...more
In February of 2021, we published an Alert on the Seventh Circuit’s groundbreaking decision in White v. United Airlines, Inc., et al., in which it became the first federal appellate court to address the issue of pay for...more
Hurricane season is only half over, with Hurricane Ida leaving a trail of damage across Louisiana and beyond, and Hurricane Larry swirling in the Atlantic Ocean, although the storm is not expected to threaten the U.S....more
As the 2021 hurricane season begins to threaten the Texas coast, many Texas National Guard members will find themselves called to State-Active Duty for rescues or humanitarian relief efforts. These proudly serving Texas...more
Q: Are employers required to pay wages to employees who are absent due to military service, similar to how they would be paid for jury duty or to attend a funeral? ...more
Commercial air pilot and Air Force reservist Eric White filed a class action against United Airlines under the United Services Employee and Reemployment Right Act (USERRA) claiming United violated USERRA by not providing paid...more
Employers—particularly those in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin—should revisit their military leave policies in light of the Seventh Circuit’s holding in White v. United Airlines Inc., No. 19-2546 (Feb. 3, 2021), that failure...more