Can a Texas Employer, Landlord, or Lender Punish You for Military Service?

Your Rights Under the SCRA and USERRA — and How to Enforce Them

He spent eleven months on federal active duty. He gave his employer ninety days of written notice before he left. He came home to find his desk reassigned, his accounts handed off, and an HR email about "restructuring" already sitting in his inbox.

Stories like this happen across Texas every year — to active duty soldiers, to Reservists, to Guardsmen. And federal law has a name for them: violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) or the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).

These two statutes are powerful, broad, and frequently ignored. They exist precisely so that military service doesn't quietly destroy a Texan's civilian life. But they only protect you if you know how to use them.

When military orders arrive, they can affect more than duty—they can impact leases, mortgages, housing rights, and a servicemember’s financial responsibilities.

The Protections Most Servicemembers Don't Know They Have

The SCRA protects servicemembers from civil and financial harm during periods of active military service. Among other things, it lets you:

• Terminate a residential or vehicle lease without penalty when you receive PCS orders or qualifying deployment orders of 90 days or more.

• Cap pre-service loan interest at 6% — including credit cards, car loans, and mortgages — for the duration of active duty.

• Stay (pause) civil court proceedings, including evictions, foreclosures, and child custody hearings, when military duties materially affect your ability to appear.

• Block default judgments entered against you while on active duty. A court is required to follow specific procedures before entering one — and when it doesn't, that judgment is vulnerable.

The SCRA is not optional. A landlord cannot refuse a lawful lease termination. A lender cannot ignore a valid interest-rate reduction request. And SCRA waivers are tightly regulated — they must be in writing, in at least 12-point type, and executed during or after the period of service. Almost every "waiver" buried in a standard contract signed before deployment is unenforceable.

When the SCRA is violated, the statute gives you the right to sue, recover damages, and in many cases recover attorney's fees.

USERRA: Your Civilian Job, Protected

USERRA is the employment side of the equation. If you leave a civilian job for military service — drill weekend, annual training, mobilization, military schools, or deployment — your employer must:

• Reemploy you in the position you would have held had you never left (the "escalator principle"), with the same seniority, status, and pay.

• Protect your benefits, including health insurance continuation rights and pension accrual during service.

• Refrain from discrimination in hiring, firing, promotion, or any term of employment based on past, current, or future military service.

• Not retaliate against you for asserting USERRA rights — or for testifying on behalf of someone else who did.

USERRA applies to virtually every employer in the country, public and private, large and small. There is no minimum employee threshold and no waiting period to earn coverage.

A Reservist’s civilian career doesn’t pause when military orders begin. USERRA protects the job, seniority, and career path they would have earned while serving.

Where Texans Actually Get Hurt

In practice, the most common violations we see in Texas look like this:

• A Reservist returns from annual training to find his desk reassigned, his accounts taken over, and a sudden "performance" reason ready to push him out.

• A Guardsman on a year-long mobilization sends a written interest-rate-reduction request to her mortgage servicer and gets ignored — accruing thousands in unlawful interest.

• An active-duty soldier who PCS'd out of state is sued in a Texas civil case, and a default judgment is entered without any SCRA affidavit ever being filed.

Most of these wrongs are recoverable. But the recovery rarely happens unless the servicemember enforces it.

Why This Firm Takes These Cases Personally

At Grable PLLC, military service isn't a marketing line — it's lived experience. Brandon J. Grable served on active duty from 2004 to 2013, including combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and currently serves as a Sergeant Major in the Army Reserves. In Portèe v. Morath, the firm obtained a permanent injunction against the Texas Education Agency to stop ongoing violations of a client's SCRA rights.

We understand orders, deployment cycles, and the chain of command. We also understand that when a Texas employer, landlord, or lender ignores federal law, they're betting you won't fight back.

What to Do If You Think Your Rights Were Violated

1. Document everything in writing. Save your orders, every written request you sent, every email, and every refusal.

2. Send notices by certified mail. SCRA interest-rate requests, USERRA reemployment notices, and lease termination letters all create a paper trail you'll need later.

3. Don't sign anything that waives your rights. SCRA waivers must meet strict statutory requirements; most informal waivers are unenforceable.

4. Talk to an attorney early. These claims have statutes of limitations, and witnesses and documents disappear fast.

If you're a Texas servicemember — active, Reserve, or Guard — and you believe an employer, landlord, lender, or court has ignored your rights, contact Grable PLLC for a confidential consultation. Your service earned these protections. We'll help you enforce them.

📞 210-963-5297 ✉️ intake@grable.law