Jury to decide whether service member employees should be paid for military leave

Thanks to a recent ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Alaska Airlines now faces a jury trial in a class action claim that it discriminated against pilots who took military leave.

Background

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) is a federal law that protects civilian job rights and benefits for veterans and members of military reserve components. The statute provides that a service member employee is entitled to the same “rights and benefits” during a military leave as the employer provides to similarly situated employees.

If the employer offers different kinds of rights and benefits for different kinds of leave, it must provide an employee taking military leave with the same rights and benefits provided under any “comparable” form of leave. Thus, some courts have held that employees taking military leave must be paid for their leave if the employer offers paid leave to similarly situated employees for a comparable leave of absence.

Reservist sues airline for USERRA violations

Casey Clarkson, an Alaska Airlines pilot leading the class action lawsuit, sued in January 2019, alleging he and other pilots were owed pay for their past military leaves of absence. He argued the airline violated the law when it paid employees on sick leave and jury duty leave but not on short-term military leaves of absence.