Eleventh Circuit Affirms Benefits for Military Leave and Paid Administrative Leave Must Be Similar

June 22, 2023

On June 8, 2023, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a trial court's ruling that denying certain employment benefits to police officers on military leave while providing the same benefits to other employees on nonmilitary paid administrative leave violates the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

From 1998 through 2018, four police officers from the city of Hoover, Alabama, were on active-duty service on 13 separate occasions for a collective total of 4,571 days on military leave. The city offered paid military leave to these employees, including holiday pay and the accrual of benefits. However, it was limited to only 168 hours per year, with excess time treated as standard unpaid leave without benefits accrual. Meanwhile, employees on nonmilitary paid administrative leave, including those under internal investigation, earned holiday pay and had their benefits accrue throughout the duration of their leaves.

The officers argued that this discrepancy violated USERRA's requirement that "a person who is absent from a position of employment by reason of service in the uniformed services" shall be "entitled to such other rights and benefits not determined by seniority as are generally provided by the employer of the person to employees having similar seniority, status, and pay who are on furlough or leave of absence."

The trial court agreed and awarded summary judgment to the plaintiff officers, reasoning that the employees on paid administrative leave were "employees having similar seniority, status, and pay who are on furlough or leave of absence" to the officers on military leave and as such, these officers were entitled to the same rights and benefits as provided to employees on paid administrative leave.

The city appealed this decision to the Eleventh Circuit, arguing that the trial court should have found no USERRA violation since the four officers on unpaid leave were treated the same as other employees on unpaid leave for purposes of holiday pay and benefits accrual.

The Eleventh Circuit rejected the city's argument and affirmed the trial court's determination that the employees on paid administrative leave were the appropriate employee group to which the officers on military leave should have been compared. While the court acknowledged some ambiguity in the USERRA statutory language, it observed that the DOL's interpretation of that language - that status and pay relate to the position and compensation of active employees, not those of employees on leave - was permissible.

The court further noted that this interpretation was consistent with other Federal Circuit Court opinions that compensation itself is among the rights and benefits to be compared to those of other employees on leave as well as with the overall purpose of the statute itself, which is to provide protections to employees away on military leave.

USERRA is unusual among federal employment laws because it applies to all employers regardless of size. Employers with employees who have been or potentially may be called to active military service should regularly review their policies and procedures to ensure compliance with USERRA's rules. Employers should bear in mind that when conflicts of USERRA interpretation arise, courts are generally inclined to broadly interpret USERRA's protections in favor of employees in active military service.

Myrick v. City of Hoover