Class Action Claims LAPD Discriminates Against Employees with Military Service Duties

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The City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) have been hit with a proposed class action filed by four retired police officers who claim they were discriminated against due to their military service obligations.

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The 43-page case alleges the defendants have violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by denying certain employment benefits and privileges to LAPD officers who are or were members of the United States Armed Services Reserves or National Guard based on their uniformed service obligations.

The plaintiffs claim that despite having “greater experience training, education, credentials, and overall performance” than several candidates selected for promotion to the rank of Captain I, the former officers were denied career advancement because the LAPD did not want employees at that level who also had military service responsibilities and possibly would be required to take military leave.

For example, the plaintiffs say that throughout their careers with the LAPD, they were required to take leave from their jobs to attend monthly “battle assemblies,” conduct weeks-long annual training and deploy for long-term active duty service.

However, the USERRA provides that “any period of absence from employment due to or necessitated by uniformed service is not considered a break in employment, so an employee absent due to military duty must be treated as though they were continuously employed,” the suit relays.

One plaintiff, a former member of the United States Army Reserve who began his employment with the LAPD as a sworn officer in 1995, says he was ordered to active duty by the reserve force in 2014 to support Operation Enduring Freedom for 18 months.

The filing claims that when the plaintiff returned to his employment at the LAPD in 2016, he was subjected to “daily harassment, discrimination and humiliation” from his commanding officers, who summoned the man via the station intercom approximately twice a week to reprimand him over the amount of military leave he had taken. Per the case, the plaintiff’s superiors said on several occasions that he “should think about leaving the [military] service” if he wanted to be promoted in the LAPD.

The complaint further alleges that the LAPD has unlawfully allowed vacation and sick time to accrue for employees on paid military leave but not for those on comparable, unpaid military leave. Also in violation of the USERRA, the LAPD fails to provide employees who perform certain types of military service with differential pay, which is “the difference between their LAPD pay and military pay, if their military pay is less,” the filing contends.

The lawsuit looks to represent all current and former employees of the Los Angeles Police Department who are or were members of the United States Armed Services Reserves or National Guard and took or have taken military leave while being employed by the defendants.

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