Under USERRA, employees who take military leave must receive the same rights and benefits during such military leave as other employees who take comparable forms of leave and military leave must be treated no less favorably than other types of leave that are provided by the employer to its employees.

The Complaint alleges that FedEx violated USERRA by providing paid leave to FedEx employees who take jury duty, sick leave and bereavement leave and not providing paid leave to FedEx employees who take short-term military leave. As a result of this violation, FedEx employees who are also servicemembers have received less compensation during their short-term military leave than employees who took other comparable forms of leave.

The Court has certified the following class:

Current and former permanent, non-pilot, United States employees of Federal Express Corporation (“FedEx”) who took short-term military leave (periods of 14 days or fewer) from their employment with FedEx at any time from December 24, 2010 through December 31, 2022, and during that short-term military leave were not paid the compensation they would have earned had they continued to work their ordinary work schedules for FedEx.

Excluded from the Class are all former or current salaried employees of FedEx who have only worked at FedEx after October 31, 2020.

The Class Action Complaint was filed on December 24, 2019. The Amended Class Action Complaint was filed on March 19, 2020.

Defendant filed the Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Transfer Venue on April 3, 2020. The Court denied the Motion to Transfer on May 18, 2020. The Court granted the Motion to Dismiss on July 20, 2020.

Plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal on August 18, 2020. The case is currently on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The appeal is fully briefed and oral argument was held on March 16, 2021.

On August 10, 2021, the Third Circuit issued a decision that reversed the District Court’s dismissal and remanded the case to the lower court for further proceedings.

After an all-day meeting with a mediator on January 11, 2023, the parties reached a settlement in principle on January 31, 2023 just with respect to the class claims and exclusive of any claims for attorneys’ fees and expenses. A formal settlement agreement was executed on March 1, 2023.

Under the terms of the Settlement, FedEx has agreed to pay $1.5 million into a Settlement Fund. Class Counsel will not be seeking attorneys’ fees or reimbursement of litigation expenses from the Settlement Fund. After subtracting court-approved litigation expenses such as costs for Class Notice, settlement administration and any court-approved service award to Plaintiff, the Net Settlement Fund will be distributed to class members.

On April 17, 2023, Class Counsel executed a separate agreement with FedEx to resolve any claims for attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses, which will be paid out of a separate fund and will not reduce the amount paid to the Class. Under the terms of this agreement, FedEx has agreed to pay $910,000 consisting of $850,000 in attorneys’ fees and $60,000 in litigation expenses and costs.

Plaintiff filed a Motion for Preliminary Approval of Settlement on March 1, 2023. The settlement needs to be approved by the Court, which consists of a three part process: (1) the Court granting preliminary approval of the settlement, (2) formal notice mailed to class members providing class members the ability to comment on the Settlement, and (3) the Court granting final approval of the settlement.

The Court granted the Motion for Preliminary Approval on March 30, 2023. The Court also set June 28, 2023 as the deadline to file the Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Motion for Service Award and July 14, 2023 as the deadline to file the Motion for Final Approval.

Class members have until July 10, 2023 to file any objection to the Settlement or to Attorneys’ Fees and Costs.

The Court has scheduled a final fairness hearing on July 31, 2023 at 12pm ET at United States Courthouse, 601 Market Street, Courtroom 6B, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106.

Order Granting Final Approval & Entering Judgment - August 1, 2023

Motion & Brief for Service Award – June 28, 2023

Motion & Brief for Attorneys’ Fees & Costs – June 28, 2023

Agreement re Attorneys’ Fees & Expenses – April 17, 2023

Order on Preliminary Approval of Settlement – March 30, 2023

Class Notice

Proposed Plan of Allocation

Settlement Agreement – March 1, 2023

Motion for Preliminary Approval – March 1, 2023

Third Circuit Opinion Reversing District Court Decision – August 10, 2021

Order Granting Motion to Dismiss – July 20, 2020

Complaint – December 24, 2019

FedEx To Pay $1.5M To Settle Military Leave Pay Suit, Law360 - March 2, 2023