Murphy v. Radnor Twp – ED Pa. – November 2012
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights
Act (“USERRA”)
provides, in relevant part, as follows:
A person who is a member of ... or has
an obligation to perform service in a uniformed
service shall not be denied initial
employment, reemployment, retention in employment,
promotion, or any benefit of employment
by an employer on the basis of that
membership…or obligation. 38 U.S.C. § 4311(a).
It elaborates further: “An employer shall be considered to
have engaged in
actions prohibited ... under subsection (a), if the person's
membership ... is a motivating factor in
the employer's action, unless the employer can prove that
the action would have been taken in
the absence of such membership.” Id. at § 4311(c)
(emphasis). Thus the statute, by its terms,
prohibits discriminatory actions where a person’s military
status is simply a motivating factor,
not the sole
motivating factor.
