Plymouth City Attorney Sean Surrisi is in Chicago today to present oral arguments in front of a panel of three judges for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Plymouth Police Officer Bob DeLee’s law suit against the city for longevity pay. In March of this year Judge James Moody, United Sates District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, heard the case and entered a summary judgment finding in favor of the City of Plymouth. Today’s continuation is DeLee’s appeal of the courts judgment.
Plymouth Police Officer Robert DeLee is a reservist in the United States Air Force. He has worked as a patrolman in the City’s police department for 11 continuous years. In April 2010 he was paid $2475 of longevity pay. That sum represented his 11 years of service multiplied by $225, in accordance with the City’s policy.
During his twelfth year of employment, Officer DeLee was called up for an eight-month military deployment. The City paid him $900 in longevity pay, the four months since his April anniversary date, or about a third of the $2700 he would have received.
When Officer DeLee returned to active employment, he requested the remaining $1800 of longevity pay. The City refused to pay because he had not provided police services during his months of active duty deployment.
In January 2012 Officer Bob DeLee filed a USERRA complaint with the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service of the Department of Labor. After DOL investigated and the City refused to resolve the matter, DeLee requested Department of Justice (DOJ) representation to file a lawsuit and they agreed to represent him.
After unsuccessful efforts to settle the matter without litigation, the DOJ filed DeLee’s Complaint in July 2012. The Complaint alleged that the City violated USERRA, by denying DeLee a benefit of employment he would have received, based on seniority, had he not deployed for military service.
The district court granted the City’s summary judgment motion and denied Sgt. DeLee’s partial summary judgment motion in a nine-page opinion and order.
DeLee is asking the Court to reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the City, and direct entry of summary judgment in DeLee’s favor instead, because the court failed to employ the legal analysis the Supreme Court has prescribed to determine the true “nature” of an employment benefit for purposes of federal statutes that protect veterans’ civilian employment rights.
On behalf of the City of Plymouth, City Attorney Sean Surrisi will respectfully asks the Court to affirm Judge Moody’s thorough and well-reasoned Opinion and Order of March 31, 2014 in its entirety, granting Plymouth’s motion for summary judgment and denying DeLee’s motion for partial summary judgment.
