Warrant Officer Nathan Rogers filed a federal lawsuit last month against United Airlines (UA), alleging the carrier violated his protected employment and family leave rights after he returned from military helicopter pilot training. The suit, filed in Illinois, cites violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Stars and Stripes reported.
Rogers, a member of the Hawaii Army National Guard, says United denied him a 14-day transition window the law guarantees between military service and civilian work. That denial, he says, later stopped him from taking family leave to support his wife through pregnancy complications.
What The Lawsuit Alleges Against United Airlines
The complaint centers on two federal laws. USERRA protects a service member’s civilian job and benefits during and after military duty, while the FMLA grants eligible employees unpaid leave to care for family members.
Rogers argues United broke both laws by refusing to count his military service toward his employment time. That refusal then blocked him from meeting the FMLA’s eligibility rules, which require a year on the job and 1,250 hours worked.
United Airlines, headquartered in Chicago, declined to comment on the lawsuit when Stars and Stripes asked on 8 July 2026.
Rogers’ Military Service and Return to Civilian Work
Rogers, 36, has served in the Army since 2016. He joined United as an aircraft technician in January 2022, then was selected about a year later for helicopter pilot training, a program that required extended active-duty periods.
When Rogers returned to his civilian role in December 2024, he asked for the 14-day window USERRA affords between the end of military service and the resumption of civilian work. United instead told him to report the next business day.
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Denied Family Leave During a High-Risk Pregnancy
Rogers had planned to use that 14-day window to support his wife, who had begun experiencing pregnancy complications, and to care for their two-year-old son. When United denied the USERRA window, he asked to use FMLA leave instead. United denied that request too.
Rogers raised the issue again in April 2025 as he prepared for his son’s birth. United told him a second time that he did not qualify for family leave, citing the same year-on-the-job and hours-worked requirements his blocked USERRA credit had prevented him from meeting.
Rogers described the toll in a statement included with the lawsuit. “I served my country and came home expecting the laws that protect service members to be honored,” he said:
“Instead, I felt like I had to fight for the basic protections that were supposed to allow me to return to work, support my family and bond with my newborn son.”
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Lost Seniority and Benefits After Deployment
Beyond the leave disputes, Rogers says he lost seniority tied to specific jobs that had offered career advancement and overtime opportunities. USERRA requires employers to restore a returning service member to the position, and the seniority, they would have held had their military service not interrupted their career path.
The lawsuit also alleges United failed to provide Rogers with benefits protected under USERRA, including profit-sharing and retirement contributions. Sean Timmons, lead counsel on the case, said this matters because United already extends similar pay and benefits to employees on jury duty leave.
“The circuit court has already told United that you’ve got to do both. You can’t pay for one and not pay for the other,” Timmons said. “United has not adjusted their policy.”
Attorneys Respond to the Case
Michelle Salermo, an associate at the law firm Tully Rinckey representing Rogers, framed the case around accountability. “Federal law is clear: employers cannot penalize employees for fulfilling their military obligations,” she said, adding that the case seeks to make Rogers whole and to ensure United complies with the law going forward.
Rogers is seeking compensation for lost wages and benefits, restoration of his employment rights and retirement contributions, and other damages. He has also requested equitable relief to ensure United complies with federal protections for service members, and he has asked for a jury trial. No court hearings have yet been scheduled.
United Airlines’ History with USERRA Claims
This is not the first time United has faced USERRA allegations from its own employees. In 2019, a federal court dismissed a putative class action against United with prejudice, rejecting the theory that offering paid jury-duty leave legally obligated the airline to offer paid military leave too.
That earlier ruling is central to the new case. Rogers’ legal team argues a separate circuit court precedent already requires United to extend equal benefits across both types of leave, and that United has not updated its policy since.
United has also settled USERRA disputes before. A federal judge in Denver approved a $6.15 million class-action settlement between United and 1,160 pilots who served in the military between 2000 and 2010, after the airline was accused of underfunding their pension contributions during deployment.
The Justice Department has separately pursued United over similar pension claims. It filed suit on behalf of Air National Guard Major TenEyck LaTourrette, alleging United based his pension contributions on a minimum flight schedule rather than his actual pre-deployment hours, a case the airline later settled by repaying the shortfall in full.
In a related case, the Justice Department sued United on behalf of Air Force Reservist Lt. Col. Daniel Fandrei, alleging the airline failed to credit him with sick leave during his 2012 and 2013 deployments as a KC-10 pilot.
Together, these cases show a pattern of USERRA disputes at United Airlines spanning more than a decade, most involving pay or benefits tied to military leave rather than the family-leave interaction now at issue in Rogers’ case.
What Happens Next
Rogers’ case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, is still in its early stages, with a docket last updated in mid-June 2026 and no hearings yet scheduled. The full complaint has been filed with the court and is publicly available.
The case adds to a broader pattern of USERRA litigation against United Airlines (UA), a carrier that operates one of the largest fleets in the world and employs thousands of National Guard and Reserve members as pilots and technicians. How the court treats the interaction between USERRA’s leave-credit rules and the FMLA’s eligibility requirements could shape how airlines handle similar cases involving service members going forward.