The Complaint alleges that Defendants adopted and applied various policies and procedures in violation of USERRA, the MVC, and the City’s ordinances. On behalf a Class and Subclasses, the Complaint alleges that the City (1) violated USERRA by requiring employees to obtain approval from the City to take military leave; (2) violated USERRA by failing to provide accrued sick leave and paid time off to employees on military leave; (3) violated California Military & Veterans Code by failing to pay for travel time to and from military leave; (4) violated USERRA by failing to provide proper pension credit when employees took military leave; (5) violated USERRA by charging interest on pension buybacks when employees took military leave; (6) violated USERRA by failing to promptly reemploy employees returning from military leave; (7) violated USERRA by failing to reemploy employees who took military leave in the proper position; (8) violated USERRA by failing to provide proper pension credit; and (9) failed to provide pay for military leave when required by California law or City ordinance.

In addition to the claims on behalf of the Class, Plaintiffs Anderson and Sweeney also each alleged individual claims against the City for violations of USERRA against the City for violations of USERRA that were specific to their individual circumstances

The Court has certified the Class Claims on behalf of the following Classes:  

Counts I, II, III, VI, and VII of the Complaint are certified pursuant to Rules 23(a) and (b)(3) on behalf of the Class defined as follows: “All current and former employees of the City and County of San Francisco who took a leave or an absence from their employment with the City to engage in qualified military service during the Settlement Class Period (i.e. October 10, 2024 to June 18, 2025.”

Count IV of the Complaint is certified pursuant to Rules 23(a) and (b)(2) on behalf of a “Pension Subclass,” which is defined as follows: “All members of the Class who (a) took a leave or absence from their employment with the City to engage in qualified military service during the Settlement Class Period while they were members of the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System Pension Plan, and (b) requested reemployment by the City after the period of military leave.”

 Counts XIII and XIV of the Complaint are certified pursuant to Rules 23(a) and (b)(3) on behalf of a “Long-Term Leave Subclass,” which is defined as follows: “All current and former City employees who took leave or absence for a period greater than 30 days from their employment at the City to engage in qualified active-duty military service pursuant to the Annual Salary Ordinance during the Settlement Class Period.”

Count V of the Complaint is certified pursuant to Rules 23(a) and (b)(2) on behalf of an “Pension Interest Subclass,” which is a subclass of the Pension Subclass, and is defined as follows: “All members of the Pension Class who purchased service credit for a period of military service.”

Count XII of the Complaint is certified pursuant to Rules 23(a) and (b)(3) on behalf of a “Pension Pickup Subclass,” which is a subclass of the Pension Subclass, and is defined as follows: “All members of the Pension Subclass who, under the Memorandum of Understanding between their union and the City that applied during the period of military leave, were entitled to have the City ‘pick-up’ all or part of the employee contribution to the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System Pension Plan on behalf of the employee.”

The Complaint was filed on February 13, 2020. Shortly after the Complaint was filed, the City expressed interest in engaging in settlement discussions. The Parties then jointly requested that the case be stayed while the Parties engaged in settlement discussions and the case was stayed between March 2020 and November 2024 while Plaintiffs and Defendants engaged in numerous  settlement conferences with the assistance of then-Magistrate (now District) Judge Corley.  

As part of those settlement discussions, the Parties concluded that certain information from members of the Class would be useful. As a result, a survey was sent to all members of the Class who could be identified from the records of the City. A pre-settlement website has been set up at https://www.sfuserralawsuit.com for potential class members to submit a survey to help the parties understand the claims of this case and their scope. 

After numerous settlement conferences with Magistrate Judge Corley, including a final settlement conference on July 18, 2024, the parties reached a settlement on all the class claims. A formal settlement agreement was executed on November 19, 2024.

Under the terms of the class action settlement agreement, the City of San Francisco has agreed to provide certain benefits to the class and make certain policy changes to its practices with respect to military leave moving forward. These are described in the Class Notice under the section “What Does the Settlement provide?”

 On November 21, 2024, Class Counsel executed an agreement with Defendants to resolve any claims for attorneys’ fees and expenses, which will be paid out of a separate fund and will not affect or reduce the amount paid to the Class. Under this agreement, Defendants have agreed to pay $977,916.12 into an escrow account, which represents $900,000 in attorneys’ fees and $77,916.12 in litigation expenses through May 28, 2024. Under the settlement, Class Counsel is entitled to seek additional fees and expenses for work performed and expenses incurred after that date..

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.

On June 18, 2025, the Court issued an order certifying the Class and Subclasses and granting preliminary approval of the settlement.

The deadline for Class Counsel to file any Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Litigation Expenses and any Motion for Class Representative Service Awards is October 21, 2025.

The deadline for Class members to opt-out of the Settlement or object to the Settlement is November 3, 2025.

The deadline for Class members to submit a challenge to their data on the Accounting Form or file other claims or establish that they are a class member is December 8, 2025.

The Court will hold a final fairness hearing on December 11, 2025 at 1:00 PM at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building, U.S. District Court, 1301 Clay Street, Oakland, California 94612—courtroom to be determined.

Class Notice

Accounting Form

Claim Form

Pension Form

Pension Buyback FAQs

Update Contact Info Form

Order Modifying Certain Dates on Preliminary Approval - August 6, 2025

Order Certifying Class & Granting Preliminary Approval of Settlement - June 18, 2025

Settlement Agreement

Motion for Preliminary Approval - November 20, 2024

Motion for Class Certification - November 4, 2024

Complaint - February 13, 2020