Army National Guard Sergeant Wins $35K Settlement Against Kansas Health Department

A U.S. Army National Guard staff sergeant has received $35,000 from her former employer as part of a settlement aided by the Department of Justice.

Staff Sgt. Stacy Gonzales initially filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas on June 27, 2022, claiming that grant funding for her civilian job as a disease intervention specialist (DIS) with the Finney County, Kan., Department of Health—a position under the direct control and supervision of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE)—was eliminated when she told them she was going to be deployed.

The case centers on allegations that KDHE violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), a federal law that protects military service members and veterans from employment discrimination based on their service. That includes not being terminated from positions or having certain benefits cut or outright relinquished due to being forced to deploy.

The DOJ said the settlement agreement resolves the suit and nets Gonzales $35,000. As part of the agreement, KDHE must update its USERRA policies and procedures and to train all KDHE employees, including those working on grant funding.

“No service member should lose her civilian job because of her service in the National Guard,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement. “The Department is proud to vindicate service members’ rights under USERRA and will continue to ensure that they can serve our country without fear of losing their civilian jobs because of their service.”

Other Recently Litigated USERRA Cases

While USERRA is meant to bolster service members’ means of employment and garnering income, as well as protecting their rights to reemployment in civilian jobs following absences due to military service obligations, Military.com has reported how the federal law has allegedly been skirted by multiple companies that employ military personnel.

One such case from this past July involved Army National Guard warrant officer Nathan Rogers, an aircraft technician at United Airlines who sued the airline for allegedly violating his federal rights as a service member after he was denied legally protected family leave and disenfranchised from promotional opportunities and accrued retirement benefits.

That suit, filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Illinois, claims that United provides pay or comparable non‑seniority benefits for comparable non‑military absences, such as jury duty and company‑requested witness service.

Another USERRA case, also in July, involves Michigan Air National Guardsman Christopher Jones who found out last year that he was going to be deployed.

But the cybersecurity engineer from Royal Oak, Mich., claimed his ex-employer, Electrical Components International (ECI), was told about his military orders and proceeded to allegedly terminate him.

“National Guard members are called citizen-soldiers because they must strike a balance between fulfilling obligations to civilian careers with those of military service. As a reservist myself, I know this is no easy task” said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser for the District of Kansas in a statement about the Gonzales case.

“When guard members deploy, they shouldn’t have to worry that their livelihoods will be stripped away while they are off serving our country. Our government put laws in place to protect the employment rights of service members. The Department of Justice will continue to be a defender and champion of those rights,” he added.