Called-up Reservist Sues Former Employer

A former police lieutenant sued the city of Chesapeake on Friday, alleging he was denied the right to re-employment after returning from service in the Coast Guard.

The federal lawsuit, filed in Norfolk by the U.S. Justice Department, claims Paul F. Sutton, a Norfolk resident, qualified for re-employment under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.

Sutton served in the Chesapeake Police Department from 1974 until the end of 2000 and left to fulfill his commitment as a Coast Guard reservist following orders to report to active duty, the suit states.

He tried to rejoin the Police Department in 2007, but the department denied his request, according to the suit. Consequently, the suit states, Sutton signed on for active duty with the Coast Guard through December 2009.

Attempts to reach Sutton were unsuccessful.

Heath Covey, a Chesapeake spokesman, said the city would not comment because it had not received the lawsuit. A Justice Department spokesman deferred to the department's news release and the suit itself.

The suit asks that Sutton be offered a post of "like seniority, status and pay to the position that he would have attained had he remained employed continuously with Chesapeake and had not served in the Coast Guard."

It also asks that he be paid "lost wages and benefits."