ARE THE COMPLAINTS FILED BY MILITARY SERVICE PERSONNEL IN 2017 UNDER USERRA DIFFERENT FROM THOSE FILED IN PREVIOUS YEARS? A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF USERRA

Steven Cates
Jason Jackson
Purdue University Global

ABSTRACT
This study investigates the Amendments to the Uniformed Services Employment and
Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) passed in 2017 to find out if the amendments had any impact
on the type of and the number of complaints filed by military service persons against potential
violations committed by their employers. Utilizing data obtained from the U.S. Department of
Labor on “the number and types of complaints” filed by service personnel against their employers
for alleged violations of their rights under the USERRA passed in 2017, the Friedman test and
multiple mean comparisons, indicated that the number of complaints was lower for 2017 than for
past years. However, 2017 complaints were not significantly lower than those in the years (2012 –
2016. In addition, the Chi squared test revealed that the distribution of the types of complaints
was not the same (homogeneous) over the ten years.
Keywords: The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, 2017amendment, US
Department of Labor