Daniel George v. Piedmont Airlines, Inc.

This case presents an important and recurring question of federal law that has divided the courts of appeals: whether an employer may deny a service member a benefit of employment because he was on leave for military service. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) forbids an employer to deny “any benefit of employment” to a person “on the basis of” military service. 38 U.S.C. § 4311(a). Another provision guarantees a service member absent for military service at least the nonseniority benefits the employer provides to employees on other forms of leave. § 4316(b)(1). The courts of appeals are divided over how those two provisions fit together. The Ninth Circuit holds that § 4316(b) sets a floor that leaves § 4311 fully operative, and it has expressly questioned the contrary view. The Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits hold that § 4316(b) sets a ceiling: a service member is entitled to no more than the treatment given employees on comparable leave. In the decision below, the Third Circuit adopted the ceiling view. It reasoned that USERRA entitled petitioner at most to the same benefits as employees on comparable leave, and held that whether he received them is a question of contract interpretation that must be resolved in arbitration under the Railway Labor Act. It therefore affirmed the dismissal of his USERRA suit. The question presented is: Whether 38 U.S.C. § 4311 prohibits an employer from denying a service member a benefit he would have received but for military leave, or whether § 4316(b) permits that denial whenever the employer also denies the benefit to employees on other forms of leave.