The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has reached a settlement agreement with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to resolve allegations that KDHE violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) when it stopped funding Army National Guard Staff Sergeant Stacy Gonzales’s civilian job due to her upcoming military deployment.

According to the Department of Justice, the settlement agreement resolves a suit filed by the United States against KDHE on behalf of SSG Gonzales in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas on June 27, 2022.

“No servicemember should lose her civilian job because of her service in the National Guard,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department is proud to vindicate servicemembers’ rights under USERRA and will continue to ensure that they can serve our country without fear of losing their civilian jobs because of their service.”

“National Guard members are called citizen-soldiers because they must strike a balance between fulfilling obligations to civilian careers with those of military service. As a reservist myself, I know this is no easy task” said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser for the District of Kansas. “When guard members deploy, they shouldn’t have to worry that their livelihoods will be stripped away while they are off serving our country. Our government put laws in place to protect the employment rights of servicemembers. The Department of Justice will continue to be a defender and champion of those rights.”

The settlement agreement resolves SSG Gonzales’s claim that KDHE violated USERRA when it eliminated grant funding for her position as a Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) with the Finney County, Kansas, Department of Health, a position under the direct control and supervision of KDHE, when SSG Gonzales told them she would be deploying. As part of the settlement agreement, KDHE will pay SSG Gonzales $35,000. The settlement agreement also requires KDHE to update its USERRA policies and procedures and to train all KDHE employees, including those through grant funding, on those updated policies and procedures.

USERRA protects the right of uniformed servicemembers to reemployment in their civilian jobs following absences due to military service obligations and provides that servicemembers shall not be discriminated against because of their military obligations. The Justice Department prioritizes the enforcement of servicemembers’ rights under USERRA.

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Additional information about USERRA can be found on the Justice Department’s website at www.justice.gov/servicemembers as well as on the Department of Labor’s website at www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra.