Veteran Sues Westmoreland County Over Jail Job

A decorated soldier who was wounded in Iraq has sued Westmoreland County, claiming that his firing as a jail guard violated federal law.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Pittsburgh this week, Allan Kern said he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after returning from Iraq in 2006. He said he wasn’t able to perform his job as a Westmoreland County corrections officer, a job he held for 13 years.

"I was still living the war. ... I was still keeping to myself, armed with small weapons,” said Kern, who was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he received in battle. “I was dealing with self medication, with alcohol, flashbacks."

According to Channel 11’s news exchange partner TribLive, Kern said he requested county officials to transfer him to a less stressful jail job, but he was denied.

Kern said the county fired him in 2009, which he alleges violated the uniformed services employment and reemployment rights act.

The law requires employers to help service members with disabilities related to war find a job or keep their current one.

"Rather than trying to accommodate him, they said, ‘Hit the bricks,’" Kern’s attorney, Timothy O'Brien, said. "Service members who go fight for this country shouldn't have to come back and fight for their jobs."

Kern, who is seeking damages for lost wages and benefits, said he would like to find some sort of employment with the county to “preferably get myself back to where I was complete and whole.”

The county solicitor said Wednesday he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

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