Supreme Court says states can be sued for discriminating against veterans

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN

(CNN)The Supreme Court said in a 5-4 ruling Wednesday that state agencies are not immune from private lawsuits brought under a federal law meant to protect employment rights of returning veterans.

The ruling will strengthen work protections for thousands of state-employed veterans returning to work after service in the Reserves or National Guard.

Le Roy Torres, a veteran and former employee of the Texas Department of Public Safety, had said he could no longer serve as a state trooper and sought a comparable job to accommodate his service-related disability. When he was denied the job, he filed suit under federal law but lost in state courts. He appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/29/politics/supreme-court-veterans/index.html

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(link to opinion included in the tweet and tweet text)

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Jun 29, 2022
The Supreme Court revives a lawsuit by a former Texas state trooper who says Texas violated federal law when it did not give him a new job upon his return from military service. SCOTUS rejects Texas' argument that the lawsuit is barred by the doctrine of state sovereign immunity.
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Here's the opinion from Stephen Breyer in Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety: https://supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-603_o758.pdf
. The vote is 5-4. Clarence Thomas dissents, joined by Alito, Gorsuch, and Barrett.

The is the second and final opinion of the day.
10:13 AM · Jun 29, 2022

[Raven123]

1. Amazing that this was a 5-4 decision

[TheRealNorth]

2. Can I sue states for discriminating because I am not a veteran?

Because most government jobs that I know of award points for being a veteran.

The case where I can see discrimination against veterans is with the National Guard. Issues can arise when you hire people for things like emergency response, but they may also get called up for National Guard duty at the same time you really need them.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. I think it might have to do with certain Veterans being considered a "protected class"

notably disabled vets.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. ​The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) applies.

USERRA Overview

​The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) is a federal law, passed in 1994, that protects military service members and veterans from employment discrimination on the basis of their service, and allows them to regain their civilian jobs following a period of uniformed service.

USERRA a​pplies to members of the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard, and other “Uniformed Services” (including the National Disaster Medical System and the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service). The law ensures that service members:

1. Are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their military service;

2. Are promptly re-employed in their civilian jobs upon return from duty;

3. Are not discriminated against by employers because of past, present, or future military service.

USERRA applies to both public and private employers. The Office of Special Counsel, in conjunction with the Department of Labor, investigates and enforces USERRA claims involving federal government employers. The Department of Labor and the Department of Justice handle USERRA claims involving private employers as well as state and local governments.

{snip}

[TheRealNorth]

5. I understand the law....

But things can get challenging for employers. If you are a big city police department, what do you do if there is civil unrest and you need all your cops, but some get called up because they are National Guard?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to suggest otherwise.

As for what to do, that I can't help you with.

[jmowreader]

7. USERRA doesn't cover that

How it does work:

You remember Pat Tillman. After 9/11 he left a pretty good job to join the military. The job he took in the military required extreme levels of physical fitness.

He left the Cardinals on good terms - played out the season before joining the Army.

Now imagine he hadn’t been fragged. USERRA would have kept the Cardinals from telling him, “fuck you Pat, we don’t need no soldier boys on our team.” They would have had to at least let him come back to OTAs and prove he could still pound quarterbacks into the grass like he used to.

[TomSlick]

8. USERRA places a burden on employers but the other option is to place the burden on service members.

Since the US military relies on the National Guard and Reserves for its war fighting ability, the jobs of deployed Guard and Reserve members must be protected. The other option would be to massively enlarge the active force at considerable cost to the taxpayers, including employers. Also, as a matter of public policy, we do not want that large of a standing active force.

USERRA is a cost of doing business in the United States.