President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice made a clear commitment to combating crime when the administration came into power.
Much of the crime the DOJ is focusing on — or at least gets coverage for — is typically related to Trump’s other big campaign platform, which is cracking down on illegal immigration.
But the department is clearly taking all crimes seriously, including heinous ones perpetrated against military servicemembers.
And the DOJ doesn’t care if it has to tackle the “nation’s largest property management company” to do address this injustice.
In a release Tuesday, the DOJ announced that Greystar Management Services LLC would be on the hook for $1.4 million for its violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
The DOJ said Greystar “imposed illegal fees on military servicemembers who terminated their leases after receiving military relocation orders.”
“The Department alleged that Greystar, the nation’s largest property management company with over 800,000 housing units under management, relied on software that it knew would automatically impose early termination charges on SCRA-protected servicemembers,” the release notes.
Apart from the fine (Greystar will pay $1.35 million to affected servicemembers, and an additional $77,370 in a civil penalty), the company has also been ordered to update its training and policies to be more SCRA compliant.
“Greystar will pay triple damages to the servicemembers who paid the early termination charges,” the DOJ notes.
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“We honor the service and sacrifices of our military by defending their rights under the law,”Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said. Dhillon is with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
She added: “We are aggressively enforcing all laws, including the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, to protect our military servicemembers and veterans.”
U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling for the District of South Carolina — where Greystar is headquartered — also chimed in on the move.
“America’s servicemembers devote their lives to defending our nation and must be able to do so without undue burdens,” Stirling said. “The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protects our military families from unfair hardships such as penalties for terminating a housing lease to fulfill military orders.
“We will continue to defend and support those who keep our country safe.”
The SCRA has been instrumental in making service members financially whole.
Since 2011, the DOJ has secured over $483 million for 148,000 servicemembers through enforcement of the SCRA.
If your SCRA rights, or those of anyone you know, have been violated, the DOJ has offered this link to find your nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance Program Office.
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