Slusher v. Shelbyville Hospital Corp.

(1) Whether the Sixth, Third, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits" de facto McDonnell Douglas three-step burden-shifting framework, requiring employees to rebut the employer"s nondiscriminatory reasons for its action, properly applies " 4311"s affirmative defense, directly contradicting other circuits that follow Congress"s express adoption of the two-step framework affirmed in NLRB v. Transp. Mgmt. Corp. where, once the burden is shifted under Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) section 4311, employers must show proffered nondiscriminatory reasons don't mask, as a pretext, the employer"s military animus; and (2) whether USERRA " 4312 claimants working under a one-year contract containing a 90-day no-fault termination provision are employed for a brief, nonrecurrent period with no reasonable expectation of employment for a significant period where the employer presents conflicting evidence that it intended to replace the employee prior to the end of the contract term but undeniably chose to do so only after the employee announced his deployment.