FedEx Class Action Says Military Leave Pay Is Denied

A class action lawsuit claims that FedEx unlawfully fails to pay wages while workers are on short-term military leave. 

The FedEx military leave class action lawsuit was filed by Gerard Travers who has reportedly worked for FedEx as a courier since around 1996.

He says that he took military leave from his work at FedEx on regular occasions, but was not paid the wages he was due.

Travers says that in addition to his work with FedEx, he is also a retired Petty Officer, First Class in the United States Navy and Naval Reserve. Allegedly, he served in the United States Naval Reserve until he retired in 2010. He claims that during his service, he was employed by FedEx and took leave on multiple occasions to serve in the military. 

He says that in total, he has been actively deployed four times between 2002 and 2008. Travers claims that in addition to his deployment, he took military leave for two weeks a year for his service in the Navy Reserve. He allegedly also took shorter leave to perform military service, sometimes taking as little as a day in leave.

The FedEx military leave class action lawsuit says that since 2004, FedEx has employed thousands of employees who took short-term military leave from their work with the company. Since October 2004, the company has reportedly implemented a uniform policy to not pay employees during their short-term military service despite granting paid leave for other non-military reasons.

According to the FedEx class action lawsuit, the company violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by not paying workers for the time they spent on short-term military leave. 

Allegedly, USERRA requires employers to give workers taking military leave the same “rights and benefits” as workers who take what the FedEx class action lawsuit calls “comparable leaves such as jury duty.” This means that FedEx is legally required to pay workers on military leave for the time they are on leave, says the FedEx military leave class action lawsuit.

Travers says that he and many other service members were financially injured by FedEx’s practice because they received less compensation than they would have if FedEx had paid them the wages they were due during their short-term military leave.

Travers seeks compensation for himself and similarly affected military members in the form of the wages that they allegedly are due. He also seeks a declaration that FedEx did indeed failed to provide military service members the wages that they were due, and an order requiring FedEx to pay military members wages when they are on leave in the future.

FedEx is not the only company to face claims of not paying for military leave. In 2018, Southwest reached a $19 million settlement with pilots who claimed they were denied military leave pay. 

Have you been wrongly denied paid military leave by an employer? Share your experiences in the comment section below.

Travers is represented by Adam Harrison Garner of The Garner Firm LTD; R. Joseph Barton of Block & Leviton LLP; Peter Romer-Friedman of Outten & Golden LLP; Matthew Z. Crotty of Crotty & Son Law Firm PLLC; and Thomas G. Jarrard of the Law Office of Thomas G. Jarrard LLC.

The FedEx Military Wage Class Action Lawsuit is Gerard Travers v. FedEx Corporation, Case No. 2:19-cv-06106-MAK, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

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