By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, Oct 29 (Reuters) – The US filed a lawsuit accusing Google of failing to give an employee his old job back or find him a similar job after he took one year of military leave as a US Army reservist.
Thursday’s lawsuit in Manhattan federal court is a rare instance of the US government suing a private employer for violating the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), which protects the civilian employment of military personnel called to active duty.
According to the complaint, Mark Davisson spent 2-1/2 years before taking military leave as a Google key account executive, handling cloud services accounts for asset manager BlackRock and hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, and managing the US business of the former Credit Suisse.
Upon Davisson’s return from leave in May 2023, Google allegedly refused to let him handle any customer accounts, depriving him of career advancement though he kept his pay and title.
EMPLOYEE FIRED AFTER FURTHER MILITARY LEAVE
The complaint said Google assigned Davisson in January 2024 to a cloud solutions position that also involved no management of customer accounts, and fired him seven months later as part of a broader workforce reduction and following another military leave.
Davisson, a Bronze Star and Meritorious Service Medal recipient, has a home in Charlotte, North Carolina, but lived and worked in Manhattan while Google employed him, the complaint said. Google’s parent Alphabet is based in Mountain View, California.
“We disagree with the claims in this complaint,” Google spokesman Atle Erlingsson said in an email. “Google takes compliance with employment laws, including USERRA, seriously and investigates allegations of workplace wrongdoing.”
SUPPORT FROM TRUMP’S CIVIL RIGHTS CHIEF
The lawsuit was brought by the civil rights unit of the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan, with backing from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the Trump administration’s top civil rights enforcer.
It seeks to recoup lost wages and benefits as well as additional damages for Davisson, and require Google to ensure a nondiscriminatory workplace including by improving USERRA training.
“Federal law ensures that our brave soldiers, who sacrifice so much to keep us safe, are not punished by employers when they return to the civilian workforce after completing their military service,” US Attorney Jamie McDonald in Manhattan said in a statement.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, David Holmes and Daniel Wallis)
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