Salem Oregon Settles Military USERRA Discrimination Claims Against Firefighters
The city of Salem, Oregon has settled the claims of five present and former firefighters alleging discrimination under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). All five were members of the Oregon National Guard.
The firefighters alleged systematic discrimination and retaliation over their participation in military trainings and deployments. The department allegedly gave the firefighters negative performance reviews, refused to accommodate scheduling requests, and even terminated two members during probation.
Under the terms of the settlement the City of Salem has agreed to remain under close Federal scrutiny for the next three years. The city must report any further allegations of military discrimination or retaliation to a Federal court judge and the state Department of Justice (DOJ).
The case was settled today, but the city was apparently miffed that the DOJ publically released the details. Here is a city press release on the matter acknowledging that the case was settled but disputing the allegations of wrongdoing. City of Salem Press Release
The settlement ends two Federal lawsuits brought last October by two of the five affected firefighters, Daniel Cleveland and William Anderson. Here is the complaint from the Cleveland suit: Cleveland v Salem. Here is the complaint from the Anderson suit: Anderson v Salem. Both paint a concerning image of the treatment of firefighter-soldiers in the Salem Fire Department.
What about the 5 Firefighters who were discrimniated against? Were the 2 terminated Firefighters reinstated?
Kevin
There was some sort of confidentiality agreement among the parties – so the outcome for the terminated probationary members was not publically available.
Interesting.
A friend of mine recently went though something similar:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/February/12-crt-203.html
And in a couple of weeks, he’ll be back in Afghanistan for his third tour.
With the large number of reservists and guardsmen in the fire service, one would think that these municipalities would have at least a basic grasp of USERRA.
Ferg
You would think they would… and in many cases the fire chief and the city administration get it… but their fellow firefighters feel like they are getting screwed by the firefighter-soldier (eg. bid spots, promotional examinations, seniority, vacation selections, etc.) and they in turn squak and make life difficult for the firefighter-soldier.
An example: FFA and FFB both have 10 years on. FFA is a National Guardsman, having served 3 – 1 year tours overseas, and several in country deployments leaving him with less than 5 years on the trucks. FFB never served in the military, but went and got his paramedic, attended numerous extra schools (rope rescue, dive rescue, USAR, hazmat). If they are both equally qualified for promotion to lieutenant, who should get it? Assume they have the same promotional points and exam score? And if FFA could not have attended those extra schools because of his service commitments should the fact that FFB did attend them even be considered?
I think we all agree with the concept of non-discrimination against our military personnel. The problem is often in the application of the concept to an actual case.
Curt,
This is a bit late, just found this site. The two firefighters did not get their jobs back. They settled for around 130,000. between them. Dont know why they didnt get their jobs back?
You might check the records. I just heard the city has another fed lawsuit filed for not giving Nat guard employees appropriate benefits while deployed. Dont imagine the fed judge will be pleased.
Bryan
I couldn’t find the details on their reinstatement. Many times the animosity that developes over a law suit like this leaves folks bitter and jaded – so perhaps the firefighter-soldiers chose to move on. Assuming they could prove their allegations, they would have been entitled to their jobs back… if they wanted them.
Curt,
It is a different world here!!! Pretty sure they wouldnt want to try another round, though I never worked with them.