Transfers, schedule changes and other similar activities can amount to retaliation prohibited by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, the U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday.
USERRA, which outlaws discrimination based on military service, was last year amended to add “other retaliatory action” to a list of prohibited activities.
DOL’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service said in this week’s opinion letter that USERRA now more closely aligns with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act’s retaliation standard. It establishes that retaliation claims aren’t limited to decisions that affect the terms and conditions of an individual’s employment, “but extend to actions that could dissuade a reasonable worker from making or supporting a discrimination charge.”
Examples, according to VETS, include “changes to work schedules, transfers to less desirable positions, increased scrutiny of an employee, the filing of false criminal charges against an employee, exclusion from professional opportunities, and threats or coercion.”
Context still matters when assessing individual claims, VETS said, but generally speaking, a retaliatory action that would dissuade a reasonable employee from enforcing a USERRA protection, testifying in a proceeding, assisting in an investigation or exercising a right could create a violation.
