Then-Airman 1st Class Michael McCullough poses on the Ground Instructional Training Aircraft ramp at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, in September 2021. (John Ingle/U.S. Air Force)
Oklahoma City Public Schools will pay an Air Force reservist $60,000 as part of a settlement resolving allegations that the school district violated the airman’s employment rights.
The settlement in the case of Staff Sgt. Michael McCullough was announced in a Justice Department statement Friday.
The DOJ sued the district last year, accusing it of violating federal law by not renewing McCullough’s contract because of his deployment and refusing to rehire him upon his return.
Under the settlement, the district has 30 days to compensate McCullough. He is to receive $15,000 for lost wages and $45,000 in damages, according to court documents.
A music teacher at Fillmore Elementary School, McCullough was under contract through the 2021-22 school year and had been encouraged to return the following year, according to the complaint.
In February 2022, McCullough informed the school’s principal of his deployment orders. She suggested it would be easier if he resigned, the complaint said. Less than a month later, while deployed, he was informed that his contract would not be renewed.
Despite multiple attempts to get his job back upon returning, he was denied even though the district had positions available, according to the Justice Department.
In the lawsuit, the district was accused of violating the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, a federal law that protects armed forces personnel from employment discrimination based on military service.
McCullough was featured in a 2022 Air Force news release, which described his determination to join the military as the “epitome of resilience.”
The California native wanted to enlist after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. but couldn’t because he was overweight. He had stopped weighing himself in college when he hit 377 pounds, the statement said.
Two decades later, after losing more than 200 pounds and overcoming other personal challenges, he began basic military training for the Air Force in April 2021 at age 40.
Besides paying compensation to McCullough, the school district, which is the largest in Oklahoma, also has 30 days to update its policies and training to prevent future violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.
“We owe it to our service members to safeguard their employment rights when they are deployed,” federal prosecutor Robert Troester said in the Justice Department statement. “Doing so shields the service member and their families from suffering financial and other hardships extending beyond the term of the deployment.”
