The fundamental principle of USERRA (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act) is that a person should not suffer because s/he participates in the National Guard or Reserve duty. I wrote previously about one Reservist, Cpt. Nicole Mitchell, who very likely lost her job as anchor for the Weather Channel due to her Reserve duty. See that post here. She filed suit in 2012 and I said then her evidence sounded strong. 

Well, that was before I knew she had signed an arbitration clause with her employer. Her case has been stuck in limbo since then waiting for arbitration issues to play out. See Chris McKinney’s blog about her case here. She did not realize, as most workers do not, that she had signed an arbitration clause. She has not been able to secure new employment and has been waiting for an arbitrator to hear her case. Such is the world of arbitration: workers have rights but they may never get a chance to exercise them. And, in the meantime, they may remain unemployed. 

Note Chris’ comments that compared to traditional courts of law, those workers who take their cases to arbitration win about half the time they win in court (which itself is very low anyway) and when they win, they obtain about half the remedies they would in traditional courts. 

Its a heck of a way to say "thanks for your service, Cpt. Mitchell."