Is it a violation of USERRA if my civilian job demoted me during ADOS and cut my hours when I got back?
I had a company not give me my job back once. I went to the Veterans Reemployment Rights. They took the telephone numbers and such. Early the next morning I received a call from the company VP requesting my presents. The trucking firm I worked for hauled a lot of government goods and they could have lost all their government contracts. I was told to report to work the following Monday, the VP insured I also had a couple extra week days to take care of business. He understood where his bread was buttered.
If you ever decide to move to MN look me up. I'll hire you in a heart beat.
I was going to be demoted and kept at the same rate of pay after the demotion, however I ended up in a meeting with the District Manager and my General Manager and I was not demoted. I will be evaluated in 2-3 weeks to determine if my skills and work ethic are in line with being part of the management team. If the DM decides they are then nothing changes, if they are not then I am demoted and keep my rate of pay.
Nothing in the meeting guaranteed hours, prior to this meeting as I understand the DM had a meeting with HR. So I'm assuming that he met with HR or HR contacted him about this because I wasn't tracking that he was even going to be at the meeting about my hours and demotion.
Thank you for all of your advice and support, and good fortune to you, your families, and in everything that you pursue.
Let me know if you run into more problems and I'll try and steer you the right way.
Good luck.
Your employer is obligated to allow you to attend drills and AT, with proper notification. They are also required to hold your position or a "like" position for you to return to post-deployment.
ADOS however is sometimes neither of those protected sets of orders. If it was CO-ADOS (Support for contingency operations) you are likely protected; if it was ADOS-HSS (home station support) it may well not be protected by USERRA.
Check out the ESGR site for an ombudsman to help you determine your rights.
http://www.esgr.mil/USERRA/USERRA-Contact.aspx
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve USERRA USERRA Contact
ESGR informs and educates Service members and their civilian employers regarding their rights and responsibilities governed by the Uniformed Services Employment Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). ESGR does not enforce USERRA, but serves as a free resource for employers and Service members.
An employer is not required to reemploy a person if:
the employer's circumstances have so changed as to make such reemployment impossible or unreasonable; in the case of a person entitled to reemployment that would impose an undue hardship on the employer; or
the employment from which the person leaves to serve in the uniformed services is for a brief, nonrecurrent period and there is no reasonable expectation that such employment will continue indefinitely or for a significant period.
In any proceeding involving an issue of whether:
any reemployment referred to is impossible or unreasonable because of a change in an employer's circumstances, any accommodation, training, or effort referred that would impose an undue hardship on the employer, or the employment is for a brief, nonrecurrent period and there is no reasonable expectation that such employment will continue indefinitely or for a significant period, the employer shall have the burden of proving the impossibility or unreasonableness, undue hardship, or the brief or nonrecurrent nature of the employment without a reasonable expectation of continuing indefinitely or for a significant period.
There simply is not enough information here. The question is whether you would have been demoted and had your hours cut had you remained continuously employed during ADOS. You may have heard of the "escalator principle," which is applied to determining your reemployment position following uniformed service. This is the position (pay, seniority, and status) you would have been reasonably certain to have attained had you remained continuously employed during your uniformed service. An escalator, by definition, may go down. So if, as a result of reorganization, layoffs, restructuring, etc., your position would have been so changed even if you remained continuously employed (and not a result of unlawful discrimination based upon your uniformed service), the reemployment position would be the demotion, unemployment, or whatever you the status would have been.
If that is NOT the case, and you were demoted and your hours cut back because they "really liked your replacement" or they didn't want to deal with your service obligations in the future, that is ILLEGAL. Note that under Section 4312, which is the reemployment section of USERRA, you do not have to prove discriminatory animus based upon your uniformed service, such as you do with Section 4311 discrimination claims. If you were entitled to the escalator position, and they instead reemployed you in a lesser position, they violated USERRA. Period.
You could have a case here, or you could not, your first stop should be to a lawyer specializing in employment law. USERRA itself is pretty ineffective from what I've seen, but that doesn't mean there aren't dozens of lawyers willing to help you file a lawsuit on your own.
That said, the first step should probably be to go to your boss, your company HR, and your union rep if you have one and see if the issue can be resolved at the lowest level. Don't threaten, just bring up the facts, and document everything that's said with recordings if possible or get written statements. That way if you do need to go to court you have evidence. Also, regardless of what happens here - I'd start looking for a new job, because if your company pulls some shady stuff like this on a Soldier, imagine what it will be like to work there without employment protection.
Is this okay? Is this a violation of USERRA?
I'm looking for a new job anyway but I have bills to pay in the mean time.
http://www.esgr.mil/USERRA/USERRA-Contact.aspx
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve USERRA USERRA Contact
ESGR informs and educates Service members and their civilian employers regarding their rights and responsibilities governed by the Uniformed Services Employment Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). ESGR does not enforce USERRA, but serves as a free resource for employers and Service members.

