UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _____________

No. 20-2703 _____________

GERARD TRAVERS, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, Appellant

v.

FEDERAL EXPRESS CORPORATION _______________

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civil No. 2-19-cv-06106) District Judge: Honorable Mark A. Kearney _______________

Argued March 16, 2021 Before: SHWARTZ, PORTER, and MATEY, Circuit Judges.

(Filed: August 10, 2021) Jonathan E. Taylor [ARGUED] Peter Romer-Friedman Gupta Wessler PLLC 2001 K Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20006 R. Joseph Barton Colin M. Downes Block & Leviton LLP 1735 20th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20009 Counsel for Appellant John Paul Schnapper-Casteras Schnapper-Casteras PLLC 1717 K Street, N.W., Suite 900 Washington, DC 20006 Counsel for Amicus Curiae in Support of Appellant Reserve Officers Association of the United States Anton Metlitsky [ARGUED] Mark W. Robertson O’Melveny & Myers LLP 7 Times Square Times Square Tower, 33rd Floor New York, NY 10036 Jason Zarrow O’Melveny & Myers LLP 400 South Hope Street Los Angeles, CA 90071

2 Colleen Hitch Wilson Federal Express Corporation 3620 Hacks Cross Road, Building B, 3rd Floor Memphis, TN 38125 Counsel for Appellee Erik R. Zimmerman Spencer T. Wiles Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. 1450 Raleigh Road, Suite 100 Chapel Hill, NC 27517 Counsel for Amici Curiae in Support of Appellee Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and Airlines for America

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OPINION OF THE COURT _______________ MATEY, Circuit Judge.

Those who serve in the military must also balance civilian life, including time away from a civilian job. To help servicemembers strike that balance, Congress enacted the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (“USERRA”). Gerard Travers appeals the dismissal of his lawsuit alleging that USERRA requires employers like FedEx to pay reservists for short-term military leave. We conclude the best reading of USERRA directs employers to provide the benefit of compensation when they choose to pay other employees for comparable forms of leave. So we will vacate the contrary order of the District Court.

3 I. BACKGROUND

Travers served in the United States Navy and the Naval Reserve. He also works for FedEx and fulfilled his Reserve duties during leaves from work. Travers received no compensation from FedEx for those absences because the company does not pay employees for military leave. But FedEx does pay employees who miss work for other reasons, like jury duty, illness, and bereavement, to name a few. Relying on USERRA, Travers challenged FedEx’s decision. The District Court dismissed Travers’s complaint, concluding that paid leave was not a “right and benefit” under USERRA. Travers now appeals.1

1 The District Court exercised jurisdiction over the USERRA claims under 38 U.S.C. § 4323(b)(3) and 28 U.S.C. § 1331. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review the dismissal of Travers’s USERRA claim de novo. Gordon v. Wawa, 388 F.3d 78, 80 (3d Cir. 2004) (citing Oshiver v. Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman, 38 F.3d 1380, 1384 (3d Cir. 1994)). To avoid dismissal, “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). We “consider only those facts alleged in the complaint and accept all