Five military reservists filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking years of unpaid compensation for civilian employees who left their jobs to serve on active duty. (Joshua Magbanua/U.S. Air Force)
Five military reservists filed a class action lawsuit on Wednesday seeking years of unpaid compensation for federal employees who left their jobs to serve on active duty.
“This is a despicable betrayal, plain and simple,” Nick Rowley, attorney and founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice, said in a statement. “We will do everything in our power to hold these corrupt politicians accountable and fight until every service member gets every dollar they’re owed.”
The lawsuit was filed before the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent, quasi-judicial federal agency that protects the integrity of federal merit systems and shields federal employees from unfair or arbitrary employment actions. The class action seeks compensation for current and former federal civilian employees of the Departments of Defense, Justice and Veterans Affairs who served on qualifying active duty during a declared national emergency and were not paid the difference between their civilian salary and military pay.
An exact figure is not known, but the Army and Navy reservists are likely owed a few thousand dollars each, attorney for the class Andrew Tutt said.
There are five plaintiffs in the case.
The lawsuit comes more than a year after the Supreme Court ruled in Feliciano v. Department of Transportation that federal employees called to active-duty military service are legally entitled to such pay, regardless of whether their service was connected to a national emergency.
The Supreme Court held in April 2025 that federal civilian employees who also serve as military reservists are entitled to “differential pay,” the difference between their civilian salary and their typically lower military pay, whenever they are called to active duty during a declared national emergency.
“The Supreme Court could not have been clearer – these men and women earned this pay, and the law requires the government to make them whole,” Tutt, who argued the Feliciano case and is now counsel to the five reservists, said in a statement. “They held up their end of the bargain. It is long past time for the government to hold up its own.”
The named plaintiffs served on active duty as far back as 2016. Two are currently on orders through Sept. 30.
Army Reserve Capt. Lacy Jaudon is a general attorney and serves in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
She performed active-duty training for approximately four months in 2021, and served under orders from Oct. 9, 2023 to Oct. 8, 2024. Jaudon’s current orders, in effect since March 16, run through Sept. 30.
“During at least one pay period in each period of service, her projected civilian basic pay exceeded her military pay and allowances, and she received no civilian basic pay or paid leave. The Army paid no differential,” according to the motion.
Army Reserve Lt. Col. Shahara Timbrook is a chief of personnel policy for the Army Office of General Counsel and a member of the Army Reserve’s JAG Corps.
Timbrook was on active duty over a series of approximately 29-day orders in early 2016 as a major. Her civilian leave records show 55 hours of leave without pay that year. The Army paid no differential.
Army reservist Shea Matthew Gibbons is a former assistant U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Florida and a member of the Army Reserve’s JAG Corps.
While employed by the DOJ, he performed active-duty training as a first lieutenant from January 21 through May 15, 2019. The department paid no differential.
Navy reservist Bryce Miller is a GS-12 Healthcare Engineer at the Orlando VA Healthcare System.
He performed active-duty training from Nov. 1, 2025 through June 25, 2026.
“For at least one pay period during that service, his projected civilian basic pay exceeded his military pay and allowances, and a positive differential remained after accounting for civilian paid time and paid leave,” according to the motion. “(The) VA paid no differential.”
Army Reserve Capt. John Mezzanotte is an assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of New Jersey and a Captain in the Army Reserve’s JAG Corps.
Mezzanotte has served for nearly a year on active duty from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026, and also served on active duty from approximately mid-August 2024 through Dec. 12, 2024, to attend the Direct Commissioning Course and the Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course.
The DOJ paid no differential and denied his request on Aug. 19.
The case also seeks to recover compensation that an existing class action before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims cannot reach.
Platero v. United States covers unpaid differential pay dating back only to May 6, 2019 because of the six-year statute of limitations that applies in that court.
The new filing argues that claims brought before the Merit Systems Protection Board under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act have no statute of limitations, allowing the board to address unpaid compensation dating back to 2009.
