Tens of thousands of men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning to the U.S. this year. Many will return to jobs they left when their reserve units were called up or when they enlisted in the Armed Services, while others will seek new employment opportunities. A March Supreme Court decision suggests that some managers and supervisors may not realize the protections the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) affords these veterans.
In Staub v. Proctor Hospital, a unanimous Supreme Court held that an employer can be liable for employment discrimination under USERRA based on the discriminatory animus of a supervisor who expressed anti-military sentiments and then influenced a higher level decision maker to fire a member of the U.S. Army Reserve.
