Opinion ID: 1207992
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Denial of a Benefit of Employment

Text: In determining whether the Department's rescission of the work scheduling policy denied Crews and other Guard employees a benefit of employment in violation of USERRA, we must first determine the applicable provision(s) of the Act. If Crews's claim is governed exclusively by § 4316(b)(1), which requires only equal benefits for Guard and non-Guard employees, then Crews clearly has no right to special scheduling flexibility. If § 4316(b)(1) is not the only applicable USERRA provision, then Crews may have a viable § 4311 claim. The Fifth Circuit has examined the interplay between §§ 4311 and 4316 and concluded that the latter section applied to reservist employees who, like Crews, claimed a right to special employment benefits while absent for drill. In Rogers v. City of San Antonio, 392 F.3d 758, 760-61 (5th Cir.2004), firefighters challenged the City's refusal to give them pay, accrual of vacation leave, and other attendance-based benefits during their absences to attend drill. After engaging in a comprehensive analysis of USERRA's legislative history, the court concluded that § 4316(b)(1), rather than § 4311(a), applied to the reservists' claims. Id. at 764-70. Further, because § 4316(b)(1) requires only equal, but not preferential treatment for reservist employees, the firefighters were not entitled to benefits not available to non-reservist employees who took comparable leaves of absence. Id. at 769. We agree with the Fifth Circuit's analysis in Rogers and conclude that § 4316(b)(1) will ordinarily prevent Guard employees who miss work for drill from demanding employment benefits (other than those determined by seniority) that are not generally available to non-Guard employees who miss work for other reasons. That conclusion is consistent with Monroe v. Standard Oil Co., 452 U.S. 549, 561, 101 S.Ct. 2510, 69 L.Ed.2d 226 (1981), in which the Supreme Court held that USERRA's predecessor statute did not require an employer to provide a special work-scheduling preference to a reservist who, like Crews, wanted to reschedule his work days missed for reserve training in order to collect a full week's pay. Seventh Circuit precedent also supports Rogers 's interpretation of § 4316(b)(1), as we have held that Guard members are not entitled to preferential policies that allow them to resolve conflicts between work schedules and Guard training. See Pignato v. Am. Trans Air, Inc., 14 F.3d 342, 349-350 (7th Cir.1994). Although this case law predates USERRA, it still remains in full force and effect, to the extent it is consistent with USERRA. 20 C.F.R. § 1002.2; see also Rogers, 392 F.3d at 768 (concluding that Congress intended § 4316(b)(1) to codify Monroe 's equal, but not preferential rule). While we agree with the Fifth Circuit's analysis, it would be premature to conclude that only § 4316(b)(1) governs this case and that Rogers forecloses Crews's USERRA claim. The remedies provided by §§ 4311 and 4316 are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and factual distinctions between Rogers and this case require us to examine whether Crews has a viable claim under § 4311. The reservists in Rogers were not complaining about the withdrawal of pre-existing employment benefits; in contrast, Crews argues that the City violated § 4311 by rescinding an existing policy of providing Guard employees with special work scheduling benefits. According to Crews, while USERRA may not have required the City to establish that policy in the first place, having voluntarily done so, the City cannot now renege. Crews's interpretation of § 4311 admittedly finds some support in the statutory language of USERRA. Section 4311(a) prohibits the denial of  any benefit of employment ... on the basis of membership in the uniformed services. 38 U.S.C. § 4311(a) (emphasis added). Nothing in the text of either § 4311(a) or § 4303(2), which defines benefit of employment, indicates that § 4311 covers only those benefits extended generally to military and nonmilitary employees alike. Nonetheless, the better interpretation is that the benefit of employment referenced in § 4311(a) is one provided to both military and nonmilitary employees. Section 4311 is entitled Discrimination against persons who serve in the uniformed services and acts of reprisal prohibited. Accordingly, courts have indicated that the statute reaches only discriminatory employment actions that provide military employees with fewer benefits. See Sandoval v. City of Chicago, 560 F.3d 703, 704 (7th Cir.2009) ([Section] 4311 is an antidiscrimination rule.); Miller v. City of Indianapolis, 281 F.3d 648, 650 (7th Cir.2002) (USERRA prohibits discrimination by, among other things, denying any benefit of employment on the basis of the employee's membership in the uniformed services.); Velazquez-Garcia v. Horizon Lines of Puerto Rico, Inc., 473 F.3d 11, 15-16 (1st Cir.2007) (citing § 4311(a), (c) as the mechanism of proving discrimination claims under USERRA); Rogers, 392 F.3d at 762 (describing § 4311(a) as USERRA's anti-discrimination provision); Hill v. Michelin N.A., Inc., 252 F.3d 307, 311 (4th Cir.2001) (citing § 4311(a) as the provision that effectuates USERRA's purpose to prohibit discrimination against persons because of their service in the uniformed services (quoting 38 U.S.C. § 4301(a)(3))). In addition, the legislative history of § 4311(a) provides that the statute would reenact the current prohibition against discrimination on the basis of service membership. H.R.Rep. No. 103-65(I), at 23 (1993), reprinted in 1994 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2449, 2456; see also Rogers, 392 F.3d at 768 ([T]he brief legislative history of the bill that became § 4311(a) reflects no intention to prohibit neutral labor contracts from treating employees on military leave equally with those on non-military leave with respect to the loss of benefits due to absence from work.). Given the anti-discriminatory purpose of § 4311, the Department's decision in this case to provide equal work scheduling benefits to all employees does not violate USERRA. The preferential work scheduling policy that the Department previously extended to Guard employees was not a benefit of employment within the meaning of § 4311(a), as this benefit was not one generally available to all employees. It follows that the Department's rescission of that policy could not be a denial of any benefit of employment actionable under § 4311(a). Crews argues that grafting a discrimination requirement onto § 4311 fails to appreciate the breadth of USERRA's protections. While one purpose of USERRA is to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of military status, the Act also serves to encourage noncareer service in the uniformed services.... 38 U.S.C. § 4301(a)(1). Crews notes that this goal of encouraging military service distinguishes USERRA from other civil rights laws, which serve not to encourage membership in the protected class but simply to prevent discrimination on the basis of that membership. While Crews raises a valid point that USERRA does more than prevent discrimination, our holding that Crews's particular § 4311 claim requires a showing of discriminatory treatment does not undermine the broader purposes of the Act. Through a number of provisions other than § 4311, USERRA encourages military service by granting service members rights with respect to civilian employment that are not available to similarly situated, nonmilitary employees. See 38 U.S.C. § 4312 (entitling a service member who leaves civilian employment for military service to reemployment upon return); id. § 4316(a) (granting a reemployed service member the same seniority benefits that would have accrued had the member remained continuously employed); id. § 4317 (providing that an employee absent for military service may elect to continue coverage under the employer's health plan); id. § 4318 (requiring employers to count time in military service toward employees' pension benefits). Crews does not claim that the Department denied him any of these rights. Instead, he tries to characterize his claim for additional work scheduling preferences not required by USERRA in terms of a denial of a benefit of employment under § 4311(a), which he cannot do absent a showing of discriminatory treatment. USERRA also encourages military service by authorizing employers to go above and beyond the minimum requirements of the statute. According to a Department of Labor (DOL) regulation interpreting the Act, USERRA establishes a floor, not a ceiling, for the employment and reemployment rights and benefits of those it protects, such that an employer may provide greater rights and benefits than USERRA requires. 20 C.F.R. § 1002.7(a). Nothing about our holding suggests that employers should not continue to provide greater benefits as they are able, much like the Department in this case did for several years by giving Guard employees work scheduling preferences. The Department's recent decision to revoke those preferences and return to the floor requirements, while understandably disappointing to Crews, does not violate USERRA. We add that, if Guard employees like Crews want legal protection against their employer's discretion to unilaterally revoke special benefits, they can negotiate to make those benefits part of a contract or agreement. Id. § 1002.7(c). Here, however, the Department's work scheduling policy for Guard employees was strictly voluntary, and Crews has not claimed that any contract or other provision of law required the defendants to maintain the policy. Cf. Miller, 281 F.3d at 651-52 (observing that, while the City's method of deducting days of paid military leave for time spent at reserve training did not violate USERRA, it may have violated the state statute granting that leave); Butterbaugh v. Dep't of Justice, 336 F.3d 1332, 1337-38 (Fed. Cir.2003) (concluding that an agency employer incorrectly applied the non-USERRA federal statute granting military leave by requiring employees to take leave for training that fell on non-work days). In the interest of completeness, we conclude our discussion of Crews's denial-of-benefit claim by addressing his challenges to certain characterizations of fact made by the district court and the defendants. Crews objects to the district court's finding that the Department's current work scheduling policy treats Guard and non-Guard employees equally in that no employee can reschedule days off to coincide with outside activities. The relevance of Crews's objection is unclear, since Crews does not base his USERRA claim on unequal treatment. Instead, Crews argues that he is entitled, consistent with past Departmental policy, to more favorable work scheduling benefits than those available to non-Guard employees. In any event, the undisputed deposition testimony indicates that Guard and non-Guard employees have equal work scheduling opportunities. Both Deichman and Crews himself testified that all officers cannot switch their scheduled work days and days off unless they trade shifts with a consenting coworker. To the extent that Crews is trying to make out a separate § 4311 discrimination claim based on unequal treatment, he has not carried his burden of producing contradictory evidence that non-Guard employees have greater work scheduling benefits. See Velazquez-Garcia, 473 F.3d at 17 (describing the employee's initial burden of showing that military status was at least a motivating or substantial factor in an employer's adverse action); Schmauch v. Honda of Am. Mfg., Inc., 295 F.Supp.2d 823, 837 (S.D.Ohio 2003) (To show a violation of § 4311(a), Plaintiff must establish that he was denied a `benefit of employment.'). Crews also takes issue with the defendants' representation that, as a corporal, Crews has fixed days off on Mondays and Tuesdays, such that he cannot bid for his preferred days off like lower-ranking patrol officers. Corporals' days off are fixed, Crews retorts, only by virtue of Chief Mendenall's discretionary decision requiring corporals to work weekends. Crews further points out that Mendenall's decision is inconsistent with the CBA, which provides that all police employees, including corporal officers, may request their preferred days off before the Department posts work schedules. Again, the relevance of this factual representation is questionable, since Crews's USERRA claim relies on the theory that he is entitled to preferential scheduling benefits irrespective of when corporals usually work. Had Crews argued that the Department treated him unequally by requiring him to work weekends, and that the defendants' reliance on the corporal's work schedule was a mere pretext for military animus, see Velazquez-Garcia, 473 F.3d at 16, then whether corporals' days off are indeed fixed as the defendants suggest would be critical to Crews's § 4311 discrimination claim. But Crews has not presented such a theory of discrimination. Moreover, the record supports the conclusion that corporals have regular Wednesday-Sunday work schedules. Both Mendenall and Tom Vowell, a Department captain, testified that Mendenall decided in 1998 that corporals' regular days off would be Mondays and Tuesdays. Crews also acknowledged that, when he accepted the promotion to corporal, he knew that he would have Mondays and Tuesdays off. So corporals' Wednesday-Sunday work schedule, while not mandated by the CBA, was sufficiently well-established as a matter of Departmental policy to give Crews notice that accepting the corporal position would reduce his scheduling flexibility. As for the CBA's provision that corporals may bid for their preferred days off, to the extent that Crews is arguing that Mendenall's 1998 decision violates that provision, Crews's argument is, at best, more suited for internal grievance procedures or even a separate, non-USERRA legal action.