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The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Knight Protective Service Inc., accusing the company of violating the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by failing to properly reinstate a returning servicemember.
Allegations Against Knight Protective Service
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Michigan, centers on King A. Gatten, a retired Army servicemember who previously worked as a full-time security guard sergeant at Knight Protective Service.
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Under USERRA, employers must promptly reinstate returning military personnel to their previous positions or comparable roles, ensuring they receive the same pay, status, and benefits they would have had if they had never left for service. The Justice Department alleges that:
- Knight delayed Gatten’s reemployment for several months after he returned from active duty.
- When Gatten was finally reinstated, Knight failed to restore him to his full-time security guard sergeant position.
- These actions violated federal law, which protects servicemembers from employment discrimination due to military service.
Gatten initially filed a complaint with the Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS), which investigated the case and determined the claim had merit. The case was then referred to the Justice Department, which is now seeking:
- Full re-employment in Gatten’s original position
- Lost wages and benefits due to the company’s failure to reinstate him properly
- Liquidated damages for the harm caused by the delayed and improper reemployment
Protecting Servicemembers’ Employment Rights
Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, reaffirmed the Justice Department’s commitment to protecting the servicemembers’ employment rights.
“No servicemember should be made to fear for his or her livelihood because he or she answered our country’s call to duty,” King stated.
This lawsuit marks the 19th USERRA case filed by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in 2009. It underscores the federal government’s strong stance against employers who fail to uphold servicemembers’ workplace rights.
One Response
As a PPO/Qualified Mgr. in CA and the owner and founder of an active security company since 1992 and the daughter of a Veteran who served as a Viet Nam Marine Corps Helicopter Pilot who did 2 tours in Viet Nam and flew over 500 combat missions, I am so pleased to see the DOJ stepping in and addressing such issues and complaints!
I have watched this industry disregard our Veteran community for almost 40 years. Even if the the law wasn’t in place, to me this would be a moral obligation of support.
All defendents are innocent until proven guilty, should this process find any company guilty of such WILLFUL AND DELIBERATE DISREGARD TOWARD OUR VETS, I would hope that they would lose their privilege of being able to hire anyone.
In my experience any company that is proven to conduct themselves in such a matter, willfully and deliberately I have no doubt that there is a systemic issue that crosses over into their other employment practices. Therefore, should such a judicial conclusion be made in any interest of this nature I am sure the Labor Board will step in as well.
Respectfully submitted.