That’s common treatment from many employers for enlisted members of reserve components. Several employers told me the same. No administrative remedies are carried out. An enlisted rank soldier simply deals with it, tries to survive it and get out before long.
With my HR/Payroll background but without having all the information in this particular case, I can’t make a judgement as to whether her claim was legitimate or not, however, if it is true, even in part that they terminated her because of military status as a reservist, that is illegal under The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA). Just because some employers do not follow the law, that does not make it right.
In her deposition related to the class action suit of which she is not a part (she was not a student but I presume was called to testify regarding her employment and knowledge of their selling practices at Trump U but would not be entitled to any settlement if there is one related to this case as she is not a plaintiff), she said - "At the end of my [performance] evaluation, they wrote that it was a problem that I was in the military," wrote Sommer. She said she took her two days a month of duty in the middle of the week to free her time on the weekends as an event planner for Trump University.”
Still, she said, her supervisors wrote on her performance she was a "weekend warrior," which she saw as "derogatory" since she had served in combat in Iraq.”
“Sommer was fired in 2007 for what the company said was poor performance, but Sommer said they had actually asked her to work more hours shortly before the firing, and she refused.”
I am not sure about the being asked to shorten a vacation when she was allegedly called to come to work vs. the asking her to work more hours discrepancy – could be sloppy reporting – don’t know.
http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/iraq-war-veteran-claims/2016/06/01/id/731850/
This article notes that “a few months before Sommer was fired from Trump University in 2007, another veteran, Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Richard Wright, was fired from his job as a mentor at the Trump Institute, an affiliate of Trump University. Wright had just returned from a deployment to Afghanistan when his bosses told him that “all of your absences” had forced the company to “reevaluate your position with the Trump Institute.”
In either cases if the terminations were based on performance and or absences unrelated to military service, to note, in particular in writing (if true) on Sommer’s performance review that she was a "weekend warrior” and noting that her military reservist duties were a problem, it’s no wonder she got a settlement. Wright also received a settlement in his wrongful termination suit.