XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: black-scum@affirmative-action.com   
      
   An Army Reserve officer whose employer – a New York police   
   department – docked vacation pay and time for periods he   
   deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq won a lawsuit against the   
   department on Thursday – a jury verdict that will cost the town   
   about $50,000.   
      
   "I'm happy to be able to say it's done, it's finished," Lt. Col.   
   Timothy H. Wright told Military.com on Friday. "Hopefully, it   
   will benefit other reserve [personnel]."   
      
   Wright filed suit against the Jamestown Police Department in   
   2007 under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment   
   Rights Act of 1994, which is intended to safeguard the   
   employment of reservists called up to active duty. Wright, a   
   civil affairs officer, deployed to Iraq in 2004 and later served   
   two six-month deployments to Afghanistan beginning in 2009.   
      
   He is now the commander of 1st Battalion, 390th Regiment, 98th   
   Division in Buffalo, and also a part-time chief of police in the   
   town of Carroll, New York.   
      
   He retired from the Jamestown Police Department in 2012.   
      
   "I had a bulls-eye on me the entire time I was there" after   
   filing the lawsuit, he said. The department was "toxic," he   
   said, as co-workers afraid of being seen as too close to him   
   kept their distance for fear of retaliation.   
      
   "It was hard on me, but it was harder on my family," he said.   
      
   Tully Rinckey, the law firm that represented Wright, estimated   
   that damages awarded to the officer will be about $50,000. The   
   town may also be required to pay Wright's legal fees, a   
   spokesman for the firm said.   
      
   Michael Macomber, who represented Wright before the Chautauqua   
   Supreme Court in Mayville, New York, said Jamestown could appeal   
   the court's finding but has not indicated whether it would.   
   About two and a half years ago the same court granted Wright's   
   motion for a summary judgment, stating at the time that he is   
   "entitled to receive his vacation and leave time as if he had   
   been continuously employed."   
      
   Jamestown appealed that decision, he said, resulting in the case   
   being remanded for trial.   
      
   "The jury sent a clear message to employers," Macomber said.   
   "Employers should not trample the employment rights of service   
   members, and there is a high price to pay for employers who   
   willfully violate USERRA."   
      
   -- Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@monster.com   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/10/06/police-department-pays-50k-   
   in-discrimination-case-against-reservist/?intcmp=obinsite   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)