FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Employee Files Lawsuit Against McKamish Inc. for Violation of USERRA.

Donald had been an AR Manager for McKamish Inc since 2013, and a member of the United States National Guard since 1991. It’s clear that he was proud to serve his country whenever he could.

In July of 2015, Donald alleges he was informed via military order that his future deployment to Kosovo would take place from January 7th to December 27th 2016. That same month, Donald informed the part-owner and Controller of these orders. From that point until his deployment, Donald was subjected to multiple complaints of “how come you aren’t retiring [from the military]? You said you were getting out.”

After completing a successful tour of duty, Donald returned to work on December 30th, 2016, only to be greeted by his employer’s discriminatory question of “you’re not going to get deployed again, are you?”

In February of 2017, Donald alleges he asked his employer about not receiving his usual end-of-the-year bonus, as he would have been entitled to one under USERRA. His employer allegedly replied that Donald’s temporary replacement had been given a bonus, and stated “we’re not going to bring that up again”. Donald did not receive his bonus. On top of this, Donald also noticed that he was only vested 20% instead of 40% of his profit sharing. Though he had worked one week in 2016 before he was deployed, he had been paid those wages preemptively in 2015, which allowed his employers to claim he had not worked the entire year and not pay into his profit sharing.

According to Donald, he was brought into a meeting on March of 2017 by several of his employers where they allegedly told him they heard rumors his military service and deployment had given him a “bad attitude” and made him “not the same person [he] was a year ago.” Donald believes one of his employers was the source of these rumors.

On June 1st of that same year, Donald received new military orders that informed him of his future deployment to Kuwait in January of 2018. In the same prompt manner as before, Donald informed his employers but was only met with their allegedly disparaging comment “you told me you were getting out.” Donald also informed them he would need to take the next day to complete his deployment paperwork and medical testing.

Unfortunately, on June 3rd, a Saturday, Donald hit a deer with his vehicle and was unable to obtain a rental car to return to work by that Monday. He called his employers to let them know of his circumstances, and took one of his vacation days to cover the absence. When Donald returned to work on Tuesday, June 6th, he was pulled into a meeting with his employers and told he was being terminated as work was “really slow right now.” To Donald’s knowledge, this alleged statement was inaccurate, as McKamish, Inc had just been awarded a multimillion-dollar job. Donald was also terminated one week before his four-year employment anniversary in which he would have been 60% vested in his profit sharing with McKamish, Inc. Donald believes he was terminated due to his military affiliation and service. Now as a client of KM&A, Donald fights for his rights. KM&A challenges employers who fail to uphold the law and discriminate and retaliate against employees like Donald.

Full text of this complaint, as filed with the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, is available at docket no: 2:18-cv-01562

Kraemer, Manes & Associates LLC is an employment law firm with principal offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, serving all counties in Pennsylvania, focusing on employment law, business law, litigation, and civil issues. KM&A clients include employees, small businesses, parties in litigation, and people with a variety of legal issues.

For more information about this case, contact Attorney Christi Wallace at 412-626-5575 or cw@lawkm.com