HireCentrix News Updates

National Guardsman wins settlement after losing civilian ‘in-sourced’ job to the army

washingtonpost 11 October 2012

A National Guardsman who lost his job as a civilian contractor when it was “in-sourced” by the Army while he was serving in Iraq has received a settlement that attorneys say breaks new ground in the government’s employment responsibilities to service members. The Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal investigative agency that represented the soldier, made use of a 2010 change in federal law to hold the Army accountable.

“We believe the obligation to rehire him moved from the private sector to the Army when the job moved from the private sector to the Army,” said Joseph M. Scaturo, the OSC attorney who handled the case.

It is against federal law for employers to penalize service members because of their military service under the terms of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or USERRA.

A change to the law in 2010 clarified that the obligation follows the new employer when jobs change from private to public-sector positions.

Michael Hanke, 46, a resident of Chippewa Falls, Wis., worked in 2009 at Communications Technology, or ComTek, a company that supports Army ROTC programs. He was part of the cadre operating the ROTC program at the University of Wisconsin-Stoudt.