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A federal court in Kentucky has held that United Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) claims, like other federal claims, are arbitrable.
In Landis v. Pinnacle Eye Care, LLC, No. 3:06-CV-569-R, 2007 WL 2668519 (W.D. Ky. Sept. 6, 2007), Landis was employed by Pinnacle as an optometrist, but he was sent to Afghanistan as a member of the National Guard. Upon Landis’ return, Pinnacle allegedly demoted him because of his involvement in the military.
Landis sued Pinnacle for allegedly violating the USERRA, which “protects returning military personnel from being stripped of employment rights and benefits they would have enjoyed had they not been deployed to serve their country.” In response, Pinnacle filed a motion to for a stay pursuant to an arbitration agreement that Landis had signed. In opposing the motion, Landis argued that USERRA claims are not arbitrable.
The Court rejected Landis’ reliance on Brelectic v. Caci, Inc.-Federal, 413 F. Supp. 2d 1329 (N.D. Ga. 2006), which held that the USERRA preempts arbitration agreements. Instead, the Court followed Garrett v. Circuit City Stores, Inc., 449 F.3d 672 (5th Cir. 2006), which held that USERRA claims are arbitrable.
In rejecting the argument that USERRA clams are not arbitrable, the Court noted the absence of any evidence indicating that “arbitration [is] an insufficient forum” for resolving USERRA claims. Moreover, a statutory mechanism for non-judicial resolution of USERRA claims provided evidence that court is not the sole forum for resolving USERRA claims.
Given its ruling that USERRA claims are arbitrable, the Court issued an order staying the matter pending arbitration.
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