Managers Beware: Individual Liability Confirmed Under USERRA

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 ("USERRA"), 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301–4335, prohibits discrimination against employees and potential employees based on their military service and imposes certain obligations on employers with respect to employees returning to their civilian workplace after a period of service in the U.S. military.

There are some significant differences between USERRA and other employment law statues.  Here are five:

1. Individual Liability: As recently confirmed by a federal district court, those who violate USERRA may face individual liability even if they took the actions at issue in their official capacity.  In Bello v. Vill. of Skokie, No. 14 C 1718, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173354 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 31, 2015), a police officer who also was a staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps Reserve sued his employer, the Village of Skokie, Illinois, as well as several supervisors in their individual capacities, for