Sarah M. Block
Fri, 07/08/2022
On June 29, 2022, in Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety, No. 20-603, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the right of service members to bring suit against state employers under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). USERRA is the federal law that protects military service members and veterans from employment discrimination based on their military service and allows them to return to civilian jobs following periods of uniformed service.
The Supreme Court’s decision reversed the decision of lower courts in Texas, permitting plaintiff Le Roy Torres to continue with his suit against his former employer, the Texas Department of Public Safety, under USERRA. Torres, who was deployed to active service in Iraq in 2007, was exposed to toxic burn pits during his military service and received an honorable discharge. Due to a respiratory condition contracted as a result of his military service, Torres was unable to return to his former position as a Texas State Trooper. Although Torres requested that his employer accommodate him by assigning him to a different role, the Texas Department of Public Safety refused to do so. As a result, Torres brought suit against the Texas Department of Public Safety for unlawful employment discrimination under USERRA. Texas moved to dismiss the suit under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, arguing that the State of Texas is immune from damages suits by private individuals.
In Torres, the Supreme Court rejected Texas’s position and held that by ratifying the Constitution and joining the Union, states necessarily agreed that they would yield their sovereign immunity to the long-exercised federal power to raise and support the armed forces. Because states have committed not to thwart Congress’s power to build and maintain a national military, states such as Texas cannot avoid suit under USERRA by claiming sovereign immunity. Accordingly, USERRA’s damages remedy against state employers is constitutional.
In so ruling, the Supreme Court continued to protect the rights of employees to seek damages from public employers who subject them to workplace discrimination. If you believe you have suffered from employment discrimination based on military service or other protected conduct, please contact the attorneys at McGillivary Steele Elkin LLP for more information about your rights.
