Opinion ID: 200109
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did Lapine Meet the VRRA's Statutory Preconditions for Entitlement to Reemployment Rights?

Text: 15 The Town of Wellesley argues on appeal that Lapine does not qualify under the terms and provisions of the VRRA for entitlement to reemployment with the Wellesley police. It insists that the magistrate judge misinterpreted the VRRA as a matter of law and that even on the court's own interpretation its factual findings were unsupported. 16 While the Town varies its arguments, the essence of its claim of legal error seems to be that 38 U.S.C. § 4304(b)(1), the statute then applicable to reservists, like Lapine, required that he leave his civilian employment in direct response to an order or call to active duty. 3 Since Lapine did not receive his order to report to active duty prior to tendering his resignation from the Wellesley Police Department, the Town contends that his pre-resignation intent to join the military after resigning, followed by his post-resignation order for active duty, were insufficient to trigger reemployment rights under the statute. The Town also argues that, even if an individual's pre-resignation intent to go on active duty is enough to secure reemployment rights under the VRRA, the overwhelming evidence demonstrates that Lapine did not resign his job as a police officer in order to enter onto active duty, but rather, because he was extremely dissatisfied with his working conditions and wished to withdraw his retirement fund [to pay obligations to the IRS and his ex-wife]. 17 The difficulty with the Town's statutory argument is that it is supported neither by the plain language of the applicable provision of the VRRA nor by the provision's legislative history. Similarly, we disagree that there was insufficient evidentiary support for the court's finding that Lapine resigned in order to go on active duty — although it is unquestionable that dissatisfaction with his police job under the then-chief was a major motivating factor.
18 We begin with the language of the statutory provision granting reemployment rights to reservists who, like Lapine, initiated reemployment prior to December 13, 1994. 4 See Brady v. Credit Recovery Inc., 160 F.3d 64, 66 (1st Cir.1998) (noting statutory language is the starting point for every case involving statutory construction). If statutory language is plain, permitting only one construction, there is no occasion to seek out congressional intent by reference to legislative history or other extrinsic aids. United States v. Meade, 175 F.3d 215, 218 (1st Cir.1999). The applicable, relevant provision here is section 4304(b)(1) of the VRRA, 5 providing as follows: 19 Any person who, after entering the employment on the basis of which such person claims restoration or reemployment, enters upon active duty (other than for the purpose of determining physical fitness and other than for training), whether or not voluntarily, in the Armed Forces of the United States ... in response to an order or call to active duty shall, upon such person's relief from active duty under honorable conditions, be entitled to all of the reemployment rights and benefits provided for by this chapter.... 20 The Town argues that the foregoing language allows reemployment rights only to those reservists who left their civilian employment in response to an order or call to duty received while their civilian employment was still in progress. Any such express restriction would have to be derived, if at all, from the statute's reference to any person who ... enters upon active duty ... in response to an order or call after entering the employment on the basis of which such person claims restoration or reemployment. But while the statute speaks of the order or call as occurring after entering the relevant civilian employment, it does not specify that the order or call must necessarily be timed so as to arrive while the civilian employment is still ongoing. It would not be inconsistent with the statutory language if the order or call were to occur after as well as before resignation. The express language of the statute nowhere specifically links an individual's entry upon active duty (in response to an order or call) to his exit from civilian employment. The phrase enters upon active duty — not some phrase such as leaves his employment — modifies the phrase in response to an order or call to active duty. 21 It is true the statute was aimed at reservists who leave their civilian jobs in order to enter upon active duty, suggesting the need for a meaningful connection between the resignation and the entry upon active duty. But the statutory language does not spell out the timing and mechanics of the connection. In the following section of this opinion, we conclude that the legislative history, the wording of a companion provision of the statute, and the interpretative case law, provide guidance about the nature of the required nexus. But the plain language of section 4304(b)(1) of the VRRA does not mandate that Lapine's entry upon active duty had to occur only while he was still in the actual employ of the Wellesley Police Department. At the very least, section 4304(b)(1) is open to two interpretations: that the call or order to active duty will issue during the employment; or, alternatively, that it may issue after termination of the employment with appropriate linkage between leaving and entry upon active duty. 6 22 We conclude that the plain language of the applicable statute did not render Lapine's resignation premature as a matter of law so as to prevent him from making a valid claim to reemployment.
23 When faced with a statutory provision lacking in clarity or one susceptible to more than one interpretation, courts will look to legislative history to determine legislative intent. A.M. Capen's Co., Inc. v. Am. Trading & Prod. Corp., 202 F.3d 469, 473 (1st Cir.) cert. denied, 531 U.S. 823, 121 S.Ct. 68, 148 L.Ed.2d 32 (2000). 24 Section 4304(b)(1) affording reemployment rights to reservists is rooted in the history and statutory text of legislation that, beginning in World War II, provided reemployment rights to veterans returning from active duty in the Armed Forces. Hence, section 4304(b)(1) needs to be read, not in isolation, but in the context of the history and evolution of the entire statute of which it forms a part. King v. St. Vincent's Hosp., 502 U.S. 215, 221, 112 S.Ct. 570, 116 L.Ed.2d 578 (1991) (relaying the cardinal rule that a statute is to be read as a whole, since the meaning of statutory language, plain or not, depends on context) (internal citation omitted). 25 A veteran's right to reemployment was first established in the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 (STSA). Pub.L. No. 783, 54 Stat. 885, 890 (1940) (formerly codified at 50 U.S.C. app. § 308). The STSA was aimed primarily at draftees and voluntary enlistees in World War II. 7 Id. This grant of reemployment rights to veterans was premised on Congress's belief that an individual, obligated, or willing, to serve in the Armed Forces, should not be penalized by loss of previous employment rights upon reentry into civilian life. See, e.g., Kelly v. Ford Instrument Co., 298 F.2d 399, 404 (2d Cir.1962); Rudisill v. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co., 167 F.2d 175, 178 (4th Cir.1947). The STSA provided, in pertinent part, that any individual who leaves a position (other than a temporary position) in the employ of an employer in order to perform military duty has the right to reemployment. Hence, to trigger reemployment rights Congress required, as a causal nexus between the act of leaving civilian employment and entry into the Armed Forces, that the employee have left his civilian employment in order to perform the military service, and not for some different object. 26 Over a decade later, in 1951, the Universal Military Training Service Act (UMT) was enacted, marking the beginning of veterans' reemployment rights in the era post WWII. Pub.L. No. 51, § 1(s), 1951 U.S.C.C.A.N. (65 Stat. 75) 73, 83 (formerly codified 50 U.S.C. app. § 459). The UMT was the genesis of the Reserve forces as these are understood today. It instituted active duty training programs and expanded the federal government's abilities to call upon the Reserves for national defense. For the first time, Congress provided civilian reemployment protection to reservists who were called up from their civilian jobs to perform active or training duty. Id. 8 In so doing, Congress intended to provide the same reemployment rights and benefits upon relief as are provided for persons inducted or enlisted in the Armed Forces. H.R.Rep. No. 82-271 (1951), reprinted in 1951 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1472, 1502. 27 In extending reemployment rights to reservists in 1951, Congress first utilized, in part, the in response to an order or call language that was subsequently incorporated into section 4304(b)(1). This section initially provided that [a]ny person who, subsequent to June 24, 1948, enters upon active duty ... in response to an order or call to active duty shall ... be entitled to all the reemployment rights and benefits provided under this chapter, Pub.L. No. 51, § 1(s), 1951 U.S.C.C.A.N. (65 Stat. 75) 73, 83. As we have stated in footnote 6, supra, the further phrase after entering the employment on the basis of which such person claims restoration was not a part of the initial reservist statute. It was added in 1961 as a part of revisions extending reemployment rights to veterans who extended their military commitment for an additional four years. Pub.L. No. 87-391, § 2, 1961 U.S.C.C.A.N. (75 Stat. 821) 929. Unexplained in accompanying legislative materials, the new phrase was presumably meant simply to identify more plainly the employer against which reemployment rights could later be asserted. The brief comment relating to the Act's revised reemployment provisions stated that they were meant to reinforce the reemployment protections already in existence. S.Rep. No. 87-1070 (1961), reprinted in 1961 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3319, 3320; see also Trulson v. Trane, 738 F.2d 770, 772 n. 4 (7th Cir.1984) (The reemployment provisions of this act and its predecessors ... are `substantially identical' and the judicial precedents developed under the various acts are `largely interchangeable.') (quoting Hanna v. Am. Motors Corp., 724 F.2d 1300, 1306 n. 4 (7th Cir.1984)). 28 Indeed, the legislative history leads us to two conclusions relevant to the VRRA provision at issue in the present case. First, as said, there is nothing in the legislative history to support a reading of section 4304(b)(1) that would require the reservists covered by that provision to have received their order or call to active duty while still employed, even though all other categories of service persons claiming reemployment rights were not so restricted. Second, the long-standing language in section 4301(a) of the VRRA affording reemployment rights to non-reservists who left their civilian positions in order to perform military duty provides a nexus equally applicable to reservists claiming rights under section 4304(b)(1). 29 Turning to the first point, the historical evidence is plain, as already indicated, that in framing reemployment rights for reservists, Congress meant simply to extend the identical reemployment rights conferred upon other veterans. See H.R.Rep. No. 87-271 (1951), reprinted in 1951 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1472, 1501 (discussing the addition of reemployment rights for reservists to the existing statute and referring to reemployment rights set forth in section 9 of the Selective Service Act of 1948). In this regard, the case law that had developed around provisions of the earlier STSA and the Pub.L. No. 759, § 9(g)(2), 62 Stat. 604, 614 (1948) (formerly codified as 50 U.S.C.App. § 459), had allowed for recovery of previous employment and associated rights by veterans who had left their civilian jobs prior to their being drafted, or prior to their voluntary enlisting in the Armed Forces. See, e.g., Boston & Maine R.R. v. Hayes, 160 F.2d 325, 326 (1st Cir.1947) ([W]e think Congress intended the reemployment provisions of the Act to apply to the man who voluntarily quits his job to enlist or to make himself available for induction as well as to the man who is compelled to quit his job because of his induction in the usual course.); Noble v. Int'l Nickel Co., 77 F.Supp. 352, 354 (S.D.W.Va.1948) (finding a veteran who enlisted in the Navy two weeks after quitting his civilian job eligible for reemployment). Nowhere in the legislative history is there any suggestion that Congress somehow intended, in legislating for reservists, and granting them the identical rights, to impose different restrictions and eligibility standards as preconditions to reemployment. As noted in the previous section, the text of section 4304(b)(1) is compatible with the issuance of an order or call to active duty following, rather than prior to quitting civilian employment, leaving ample room for application of the above precedents. 30 Our conclusion that, in the VRRA, Congress had extended to reservists — without more or less — the same rights as it had provided to others serving in the Armed Forces is further bolstered by the statutory text and legislative history of the USERRA. 9 USERRA was created to streamline the laws protecting veterans that had become increasingly complex and cumbersome over the years. (Indeed, this case illustrates some of those problems). Section 4312 of the USERRA establishes reemployment rights for any person whose absence from a position of employment is necessitated by reason of service in the uniformed services regardless of whether his or her service is in the regular or reserve component. There is nothing in the legislative history to indicate that Congress, by treating reservists and regular army veterans the same with regards to reemployment benefits under the USERRA, thought it was departing from the substance of the law as it had existed in the past. Indeed, the legislative history accompanying the USERRA was careful to note changes to the law that represented a deviation from the VRRA. See H.R.Rep. No. 103-65 (1993), reprinted in 1994 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2449, 2458-62 (discussing changes to time limitations and imposition of notice requirement). 31 We accordingly reject the Town's argument that Lapine's right to reemployment was defeated by the fact that his order to active duty did not come until after he had left his job with the Wellesley Police Department. 32 As for our second point, the statutory history indicates that section 4304(b)(1) — the reemployment provision applicable to Lapine — is subject to the same in order to perform requirement made explicit in section 4301(a) — the traditional reemployment nexus applying to other categories of service personnel. It seems obvious that Congress expected section 4304(b)(1) to require implicitly a connection between the act of quitting one's civilian employment and entering upon active duty. Otherwise, Congress's purpose to benefit only those veterans who leave their civilian employment so as to serve their country in the Armed Forces would be exceeded, and employers would be required to reemploy some former employees for no good reason. Courts have held that an employee who quits his civilian employment to forestall being fired, see McCarthy v. M & M. Transp. Co., 160 F.2d 322, 324 (1st Cir. 1947), or who quits for personal reasons unrelated to military enlistment, see Riser v. N. States Power Co., No. 4-71 Civil 483, 1973 WL 959, at  (D.Minn. Mar.2, 1973), cannot, by subsequently joining the armed forces, force his former employer to take him back at the end of his tour of duty. 33 The nexus requirement first adopted in 1940 in the initial military reemployment statute and carried forward up through the period of Lapine's claim in 38 U.S.C. § 4301(a), provided simply that one claiming reemployment benefits must demonstrate that he left his civilian employment in order to perform military duty. We think this long-established requirement was also implicit in the case of reservists claiming reemployment benefits under section 4304(b)(1) even though, unlike section 4301(a), the latter statute did not repeat the specific language. The magistrate judge correctly so assumed, making the finding that Lapine did, in fact, resign from the Wellesley Police Department in order voluntarily to enter on active duty with the United States Army Reserve. We discuss below the evidentiary support for that finding. Suffice it to say, we hold that the magistrate judge utilized the appropriate legal standard. If properly supported, the finding sufficed to establish Lapine's compliance with the nexus standard inherent in the then-applicable reemployment statute. 34 In this regard we note that courts have concluded that a firm pre-resignation intent to enter the military coupled with actions that promptly effectuated that intent may, in appropriate circumstances, establish the causative nexus. See, e.g., Trulson, 738 F.2d at 774; Duey v. City of Eufaula, No. 79-149-N, 1979 WL 1936, at  (M.D.Ala. Oct.31, 1979); Fortenberry v. Owen Bros. Packing Co., 267 F.Supp. 605, 607 (S.D.Miss.1966); Noble, 77 F.Supp. at 354. Thus, a veteran may establish that he left his civilian employment in order to perform military duty notwithstanding the timing of the active-duty order or ultimate commitment — whether before or after resignation. See Trulson, 738 F.2d at 772 (and cases cited therein). 35 Contrary to the Town's position, therefore, neither the language of the statute, the legislative history, nor the surrounding case law suggests that Congress intended that a veteran, to establish the causative nexus, must have received an induction notice, signed an enlistment contract, or received an order or call to active duty prior to his resignation. The case law is replete with examples of veterans who left their civilian employment in order to serve in the military before they were actually compelled, by receipt of an induction notice or similar order, to do so. See, e.g., Boston & Maine R.R. v. Hayes, 160 F.2d 325, 326 (1st Cir.1947); Noble, 77 F.Supp. at 352, 354; see also Rudisill, 167 F.2d at 178 (stating rights not limited to persons who are forced to leave their positions..., but are extended to all those who leave their positions in order to perform such service.); Adams v. Mobile County Pers. Bd., No. 81-0524, 1982 WL 1972 at  (S.D.Ala. Nov.24, 1982) (finding veteran eligible for reemployment because she resigned with the intent of entering upon active duty and did so); Jennings v. Ill. Office of Educ., No. 77-3051, 1978 WL 1564 at  (S.D.Ill. Feb. 16, 1978) (same); Thompson v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co., 76 F.Supp. 304, 305 (1948) (same). 36 We agree, therefore, with the magistrate judge that if Lapine — having found there were active duty openings and that his chance of being accepted was good — left his job with the Wellesley police with the intent to go on active duty as soon as the necessary paperwork could be completed and orders issued, and if — as clearly happened — he diligently and successfully carried out this intention, he was entitled to claim reemployment benefits under the VRRA.
37 The evidence presented at trial was sufficient to establish that Lapine left the Wellesley Police Department in order to perform military service. In addition to Lapine's testimony, two other individuals testified, without contradiction, that Lapine had spoken with them about his intent to apply for a position with the AGR prior to his resignation on April 30, 1990. Robert Johnson, Lapine's attorney, testified that on April 12, 1990, Lapine informed him that he wished to enter into active duty. Albert Basile, a recruiter with the Army Reserves, stated that, in the latter part of April, he contacted Lapine about entering the AGR. Basile testified that he informed Lapine he would make an excellent candidate for the AGR. Immediately following his conversation with Basile, Lapine submitted his resignation. A week after he submitted his letter of resignation, but before the effective date of his resignation as stated in the letter, Lapine interviewed before a three-member panel for a position with the AGR. He was selected unanimously and he promptly completed the necessary paperwork. One month later he received an official notice that he was being assigned to active duty. Lapine then entered upon active duty, satisfactorily completed his three-year tour of duty, and was honorably discharged in August 1993. 38 The Town argues that Lapine's resignation was not motivated by his desire to enter the military but rather it was driven by his acute dissatisfaction with the police department. The fact that Lapine's decision to leave the police and to join the Army may have been fueled by more than one motive does not establish that the magistrate judge erred in determining that he resigned from the police department in order voluntarily to enter on active duty with the AGR. To be sure, his pre-resignation intent to go on active duty followed by his resignation and subsequent entry on active duty may well have reflected his distaste for continued police employment. Lapine's letter reflects profound dissatisfaction with working conditions at the police department under its then-chief. He apparently regarded the military as a more attractive alternative. But the combination of motives does not preclude a finding that he left his position in order to perform military duty. In the real world, motives are often mixed. This court has long recognized, especially in labor and employment decisions, that an individual's actions may be propelled by mixed motives. See, e.g., Fernandes v. Costa Bros. Masonry, Inc., 199 F.3d 572, 579 (1st Cir.1999); NLRB v. E. Smelting and Refining Corp., 598 F.2d 666, 669 (1st Cir.1979). 10 It is not unusual for a person to seek and accept another job because of dissatisfaction with a previous job. 39 The evidence here is persuasive that, before resigning, Lapine formed an intent to go on active duty and acted on that intent by speaking with Basile before he wrote his letter of resignation. Word from Basile suggested that his chances of acceptance were good. In his letter of resignation he says that only the opportunity to secure other employment prevented me from resigning earlier and possibly the hope that conditions would change. The implication here is that he believed he had at last found an opportunity to secure desirable other employment, and that, in order to secure that employment, he was now resigning. To be sure, he took some risk by terminating his employment prior to being finally accepted into the AGR program. Still the evidence indicates his prior intent and that, at the time he resigned, he was diligently doing what was necessary to join the AGR program and that he had good reason to believe that he would be accepted as, in fact, he was. The evidence is uncontradicted at all relevant times, both before and after resigning, he intended to join the military if accepted. 40 We therefore sustain the finding of the magistrate judge that Lapine left his position with the Town in order to perform military service.
41 Next, the Town argues that Lapine is not qualified to resume the duties of a police officer. The VRRA requires that a returning veteran be qualified to perform the duties of such position or able to become requalified with reasonable efforts by the employer.... § 4301(a)(2)(B)(i). To be qualified to return to a prior position, the veteran must be both physically capable of performing the duties of the job and temperamentally able to work harmoniously with co-workers and supervisors. Trusteed Funds v. Dacey, 160 F.2d 413, 420-21 (1st Cir.1947); Preda v. Nissho Iwai Am. Corp., 128 F.3d 789, 792 (2d Cir.1997). The Town does not dispute that Lapine is physically qualified to perform his duties; rather the Town asserts that he is temperamentally unqualified to work as a police officer. 42 To support its position, the Town relied on several incidences of Lapine's improper conduct during his thirteen-year tenure as a police officer. The Town asserted that Lapine's pre-service conduct exhibited an inability to work harmoniously within the police department. Behavior occurring prior to entering upon active duty can be the basis for finding a veteran no longer qualified for reemployment. Doane v. Martin, 164 F.2d 537, 539 (1st Cir.1947). The Town presented evidence that Lapine was the subject of several disciplinary actions while in the Town's employ. The most egregious conduct, including a physical altercation with another officer, placing a chemical irritant on a superior's uniform, and failing to assist citizens calling the station for help, occurred in 1981 and 1983 — nearly a decade before his resignation. In each instance, Lapine was disciplined according to departmental policy but not fired. 43 The magistrate judge ruled that the conduct in question was too far removed from Lapine's date of resignation to deem Lapine unqualified for reemployment under the VRRA. The Town had disciplined Lapine after each incident and had chosen not to terminate him. Moreover, closer to Lapine's date of resignation, he received favorable employee evaluations in which he was described as definitely above average and conscientious, and was given several service commendations. In addition, Chief O'Loughlin, the current chief of police, testified that, upon review of Lapine's personnel file, he would have no basis to terminate him from the police force. 44 The magistrate judge's conclusion is supported by the few cases that have addressed this issue. Courts have held that a veteran is not qualified to return to his former position if he demonstrates extreme or dangerous behavior. See, e.g., Doane, 164 F.2d at 539; Dacey, 160 F.2d at 420; Preda, 128 F.3d at 792; Green v. Tho-Ro Prods., 232 F.2d 172, 173 (3d Cir. 1956); Winfree v. Morrison Inc., 762 F.Supp. 1310 (E.D.Tenn.1990). 45 In Dacey there was evidence that, upon his return from service, Dacey had threatened to rule or ruin the company and to mow down opposition. 160 F.2d at 421. In addition, he had made unsupported charges regarding the officers and directors. Id. Likewise, in Green, the returning veteran was deemed unqualified when he engaged in fraudulent behavior described as active and gross provocation and wrongdoing. 232 F.2d at 174 (citing McClayton v. W.B. Cassell Co., 66 F.Supp. 165 (D.Md.1946)). In Winfree, a veteran was found unqualified because he brought weapons to work, threatened to kill fellow employees and served liquor to underage patrons. 762 F.Supp. at 1313. 46 We find no error in the magistrate judge's conclusion that Lapine was not temperamentally disqualified from continuing his duties as a police officer. To be sure, Lapine's early conduct during his tenure with the Wellesley Police Department was at times questionable and the tenor of his letter of resignation suggests a short fuse and, quite possibly, an unprofessional manner of dealing with his employer. At the time of his resignation, however, Lapine was described by his superiors as an above average and conscientious police officer. Given these positive reviews, as well as the fact that the department did not terminate him after his egregious acts but allowed him to stay on for a number of years during which no similar incident occurred, we can see no adequate basis for overturning the magistrate judge's finding that he was qualified. Nor are we in a position, at this juncture, to sufficiently evaluate the factors surrounding his angry letter of resignation so as to conclude, from the letter alone, that he was temperamentally unsuited.