If you’ve served in the military and experienced discrimination, adverse employment action, or other retaliatory action such as job or promotion denial, cuts in pay or benefits, demotion, or a failure by your employer to return you to the same position after employment, you may have legal rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”).
If you file a claim and win your case, what happens? What can you potentially be awarded? USERRA was strengthened by the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (the “Dole Act”), which took effect on January 2, 2025. If you file a claim and win your case, here is a simple, updated guide to the remedies that may be available.
1. Reinstatement to Your Job
If you were denied your old job after returning from military service, one of the main remedies is getting your job back. USERRA requires your employer to restore you to the position you would have held if you hadn’t been away for military duty. That could include:
- Your original job;
- A promotion you would likely have received; and/or
- Equivalent seniority, status, and pay.
This is sometimes called the “escalator position” meaning your career should have kept moving up even while you were gone.
2. Back Pay and Lost Benefits
If your employer’s violation of USERRA caused you to lose wages or benefits, you can be awarded back pay. This includes:
- Lost wages since the violation;
- Lost retirement contributions; and/or
- Missed bonuses, vacation time, or other benefits you would have earned
These payments aim to put you in the same financial position you would be in if your employer had followed USERRA
3. Prejudgment Interest on Lost Wages and Benefits
Under the Dole Act, a court can also award interest on lost wages and benefits at 3% per year. That matters because a USERRA case can take time, and this interest is meant to account for the delay in making you whole.
4. Liquidated Damages If the Violation Was Willful
If the court finds that your employer knowingly failed to comply with USERRA, the court can award liquidated damages. Under the Dole Act, those liquidated damages can be the greater of:
- $50,000; or
- The amount of your lost wages and benefits, plus the 3% prejudgment interest described above.
In other words, the law now provides a substantial floor for serious violations. Liquidated damages can be awarded even where no lost wages and benefits are recovered.
5. Attorney’s Fees and Court Costs
Before the Dole Act, the court had discretion to award attorneys’ fees to prevailing USERRA plaintiffs. Now, the court is required to do so. That includes:
- Reasonable attorney fees;
- Filing costs; and/or
- Expert witness fees (if applicable).
This prevents the lost wages and benefits award from being reduced.
6. Injunctions and Court Orders
Courts already had broad power to order employers to comply with USERRA. After the Dole Act, a successful claimant may also be able to obtain earlier injunctive relief in the right case. Depending on the circumstances, a court can order an employer to:
- Reinstate you immediately;
- Stop an ongoing or threatened violation;
- Stop retaliating against you; and/or
- Correct policies or practices that violate the law.
These court orders can be powerful tools when the harm is ongoing, and money alone is not enough.
7. Protection from Retaliation
USERRA also protects you from being punished for asserting your rights. If you were demoted, fired, or otherwise mistreated because you complained about a USERRA violation, you can get remedies for that too including, but not limited to, reinstatement, back pay, and damages.
Conclusion
If you think your employer has violated USERRA, speak to an attorney familiar with military employment rights.