Date: 05-12-2021

Case Style:

Case Number:

Judge: 21-CV-2448

Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Kings County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: United States District Attorney’s Office

Defendant's Attorney: No appearance

Description: Brooklyn, New York: The United States of America accused Maimonides Medical Center (Maimonides) of violating the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by terminating Lieutenant Colonel Rego’s employment in the Pharmacy Department after he was called up to active military duty status. USERRA prohibits discrimination in employment based on an individual’s prior service in the uniformed services; current service in the uniformed services; or intent to join the uniformed services. Under the terms of the settlement, Maimonides will pay Lieutenant Colonel Rego $195,000 to compensate him for lost wages and other damages. The settlement also requires Maimonides to provide annual training to hospital officials and human resources staff on the rights of service members under USERRA.

“Lieutenant Colonel Rego’s honorable service to his country cost him his job as a pharmacist, even though USERRA flatly prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on account of their military service,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Lesko. “This Office is firmly committed to enforcing USERRA’s requirements and to holding employers like Maimonides accountable for their failure to comply.”

Rego was ordered to full-time active duty with the U.S. Army Reserves on July 17, 2017, when he was deployed for a tour of duty with U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency at Fort Detrick in Maryland. Rego took a leave of absence from Maimonides in order to perform his military service. Rego returned to work at MMC on October 2, 2017. Just seven weeks later, on November 21, 2017, Rego was informed by a supervisor that his position was being eliminated and that he was being terminated as part of a reduction in force designed to save money at the hospital. Rego was the only employee terminated of the more than 100 employees in the Pharmacy Department. After Rego was fired, Maimonides promoted and gave pay raises to two mid-level managers in order to cover some of Rego’s duties, used non-managers to perform other duties and paid those non-managers overtime. Maimonides also hired new Pharmacy Department employees immediately before and after it fired Rego and had posted an opening for his job on a job search website one week before he was dismissed.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability and Maimonides denies that it has violated USERRA.

The case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean P. Greene-Delgado of the Office’s Civil Division.

05/03/2021 1 COMPLAINT against Louis P. Rego $ 402 Was the Disclosure Statement on Civil Cover Sheet completed -YES,, filed by Louis P. Rego. (Attachments: # 1 Civil Cover Sheet) (Greene-Delgado, Sean) (Attachment 1 replaced on 5/4/2021) (Lee, Tiffeny). (Entered: 05/03/2021)
05/03/2021 2 Proposed Summons. Re 1 Complaint by Louis P. Rego (Greene-Delgado, Sean) (Entered: 05/03/2021)
05/03/2021 Case Assigned to Judge Eric N. Vitaliano and Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon. Please download and review the Individual Practices of the assigned Judges, located on our website. Attorneys are responsible for providing courtesy copies to judges where their Individual Practices require such. (Davis, Kimberly) (Entered: 05/03/2021)
05/03/2021 3 In accordance with Rule 73 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Local Rule 73.1, the parties are notified that if all parties consent a United States magistrate judge of this court is available to conduct all proceedings in this civil action including a (jury or nonjury) trial and to order the entry of a final judgment. Attached to the Notice is a blank copy of the consent form that should be filled out, signed and filed electronically only if all parties wish to consent. The form may also be accessed at the following link: http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/FormsAndFees/Forms/AO085.pdf. You may withhold your consent without adverse substantive consequences. Do NOT return or file the consent unless all parties have signed the consent. (Davis, Kimberly) (Entered: 05/03/2021)
05/03/2021 4 This attorney case opening filing has been checked for quality control. See the attachment for corrections that were made, if any. (Davis, Kimberly) (Entered: 05/03/2021)
05/03/2021 5 Summons Issued as to Maimonides Medical Center. (Davis, Kimberly) (Entered: 05/03/2021)

Outcome: NOTICE of Voluntary Dismissal by Louis P. Rego (Greene-Delgado, Sean) (Entered: 05/03/2021)

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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