TAMPA - Manatee County and three county government officials are accused of violating the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) in an April 2 federal court lawsuit.
The suit comes from plaintiff Melinda Calvert, who worked as a Captain of Emergency Communications for the defendant. Calvert frequently had to take time off protected by the USERRA to respond to her military duties, she says.
Calvert alleges the county had a history of resisting her entitled time off for service and treating her poorly because of the time off she needed.
When the plaintiff reapplied to work at Manatee County after briefly moving cross-country, she was denied for the role. She says the interviewing panel mentioned her pattern of military leave during her interviewing process, and that the county "was not happy about all the time Calvert had been away from her civilian duties," the suit says.
The defendants - including county employees Stacy Needham, James Michael Turner and Richard Gisolf - are charged with discrimination in violation of USERRA. Calvert is represented by the Employment Law Group PC of Washington D.C.