The complaint filed in July 2008 alleged that the city of Marion violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by failing to reinstate Davis in her dispatcher position in the city’s police department following her return from basic training in August 2007. The Labor Department’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service had investigated Davis’ complaint, determined that it had merit and, upon completion of conciliation efforts, referred the matter to the Justice Department.

Enacted by Congress in 1994, USERRA requires employers to promptly reemploy returning service members in the positions they would have held had their employment not been interrupted by military service, or in positions of like status, seniority and pay.

The consent decree requires Marion to reemploy Davis as a full-time dispatcher at the rate of pay and with the amount of seniority and benefits she would have earned had she remained continuously employed by the city until the present, including during the time of her active duty service in the Alabama National Guard. Since Davis is to be reemployed by the city as a full-time dispatcher, she is also guaranteed a full-time dispatcher position with the Perry County, Ala., Emergency Communication District when Marion’s full-time dispatchers are transferred to the Perry County Emergency 911 Board on or about July 1, 2009. As a full-time Perry County Emergency 911 Board dispatcher, Davis will receive a higher wage and better benefits than she had received as a city of Marion employee.

“Service members should not fear being penalized in their civilian careers because they make the decision to join the military,” said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “This agreement demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to the vigorous enforcement of federal laws that protect the employment rights of men and women who serve our country in the military.”

The Department’s Civil Rights Division has given a high priority to the enforcement of service members’ rights under USERRA. It has filed 16 lawsuits and obtained 18 settlements under USERRA on behalf of service members in 2009. Additional information about the enforcement of USERRA can be found on the Justice Department Web sites http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/emp and http://www.servicemembers.gov, and on the Labor Department’s Web site at http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/main.htm.

Faapouli was a senior juvenile correctional officer in Fresno County’s Probation Department when he was called to active duty with the U.S. Navy in June 2004. During a January 2005 training exercise, Faapouli suffered severe back, neck and shoulder injuries which required several surgeries and a long period of recuperation. Following his honorable discharge, he reported back to work for the county in September 2007.

The complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California alleges that Fresno officials refused to meet with Faapouli to identify an appropriate reemployment position until five months after he first reported to work, made no effort to accommodate Faapouli in his pre-service position, failed to reemploy him at all until June 2008 and ultimately reemployed him in an entry-level position that was not in any way equivalent to his pre-service position.

“Protecting the employment rights of our returning service members is among the highest priorities of the Department of Justice,” said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The Department is committed fully to safeguarding the employment rights of our men and women in uniform, particularly those whose sacrifices include a disability incurred while in service to our nation.”

The Labor Department’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service investigated and attempted to resolve Faapouli’s USERRA complaint before referring it to the Justice Department.

USERRA, which was enacted by Congress in 1994 to minimize disruption in the lives of returning service members, recognizes the additional burden faced by returning veterans who were injured while serving our nation. Accordingly, USERRA requires employers to make reasonable efforts to accommodate a returning service member’s injury or disability. If the returning service member cannot perform the pre-service position with or without an accommodation, USERRA mandates that the employer reemploy the veteran in a position that he or she can perform that is equivalent in seniority, status and pay to the pre-service position.

The Civil Rights Division has given the enforcement of service members’ rights under USERRA a high priority. This is the twelfth USERRA suit the Division has filed this year on behalf of service members. Please visit

http://www.servicemembers.gov and http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/emp for more information.