The most recent enforcement statistics released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS) indicate that the number of complaints filed by military service members under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) dropped significantly, from 1,123 filed in Fiscal Year 2015 to 930 complaints in FY 2016. These latest results are down from 1,548 complaints filed in FY 2011, and represent the lowest total in more than a decade.
Under USERRA, a covered service member has the option of filing an administrative complaint with DOL-VETS or litigating directly in federal court, and there are no reliable statistics breaking down the number of such lawsuits filed. General civil litigation data reported by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) suggests, however, that the annual number of USERRA lawsuits brought in federal court is not very high.
DOL-VETS’ USERRA FY 2016 Annual Report to Congress is available here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.