“Goodyear has a long history of supporting the United States military and takes its responsibilities under USERRA very seriously,” the company said in its statement. “With two of our U.S. plants in military communities, we obviously have worked closely with military and re-employed military personnel back into our plants. We have thousands of veterans, both active and inactive, on our payrolls today.”
The Justice Department claims that Goodyear “took no steps” to place Army reservist Michael Ellis in a job after the serviceman returned following his discharge. “Instead, Goodyear delayed reemploying him for 51 weeks while repeatedly requesting medical documentation not required or permitted by USERRA as a prerequisite to reemployment,” the department claimed.
In response, Goodyear said, “Goodyear provided several medical leaves and job accommodations to Mr. Ellis during his employment. In 2007-2008, Goodyear worked diligently with Mr. Ellis, but he was uncooperative in providing information necessary to secure re-employment at the Lawton factory.
“By September 2008, Goodyear had sufficient information, and placed him in a job he could safely perform. Within weeks, in October 2008, Mr. Ellis elected to resign from Goodyear to take a job at nearby Fort Sill,” the company said. (Tire Review/Akron)
