Greensboro man who left work to serve in reserves can’t sue to keep his job under USERRA

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.

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