Supreme Court takes up wounded Iraq War veteran's job discrimination claim

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: The Hill

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to review an appeal by a member of the U.S. Army Reserves who claims his former employer discriminated against him after he sustained injuries during his deployment to the Iraq War.

Reservist Le Roy Torres had been employed as a Texas state trooper when he was called up to active duty and deployed to Iraq in 2007. Like thousands of other U.S. service members, Torres was exposed to toxic fumes from infamous "burn pits" that operated near his military base, causing him lung damage.

After being honorably discharged, Torres sought to be reemployed by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Unable to perform his duties as a Texas state trooper due to a diagnosis of constrictive bronchiolitis, he requested a different job within the department - an accommodation that was refused, leading Torres to resign, according to his court filings.

Torres sued his former employer in Texas state court in 2017, seeking more than $5 million under a federal law known as the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/supreme-court-takes-up-wounded-iraq-war-veterans-job-discrimination-claim/ar-AARQhET

[James48]

1. One problem

It says he resigned.

While not impossible, that does make it more difficult to collect. He should have made them fire him. Then he’s have a better case.

Good luck- it is Texas. You’ll need it.

[jimfields33]

2. Yep. He should have made them fire him.

That’d be a slam dunk. I want so badly to support his case. I still hope he wins.

[Princess Turandot]

4. That doesn't matter in this case, at least at this point...

The actual claim itself hasn't been adjudicated, as far as I can tell. (Also, they gave him only a temporary job, still as a state trooper, with a 'like it or lump it' caveat. He resigned because he could not do the work, because of his physical limitations.)

Texas moved to have the claim dismissed from the get-go, because it said that the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 and 1998 that gave Torres a cause of action to sue was unconstitutional, because "Congress lacks the power to authorize lawsuits against nonconsenting states pursuant to its War Powers." (Congress used its Constitution-granted War Powers to justify the legislation.) The trial court denied Texas's request but an appeals court then ruled in its favor, saying Torres couldn't file a claim.

So, the question before the Court is literally whether 'Congress has the power to authorize suits against nonconsenting states pursuant to its War Powers'.

Texas, of course, supports the troops, as long as that's mostly a slogan.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. I sometimes wonder

If my son wasn't exposed to burn pits. The toxic fumes can cause not only lung damage, but brain damage. He acted like a post-concussion survivor when he came home (no records, of course) and I figured it might have been from concussion bombs exploding near or behind him, but toxic fumes could do it too.

[imavoter]

6. There's research on air compression concussions

They already know that you can
have injury without an impact.

I have pcs 3 years from a "mild" tbi.

[Hortensis]

5. The SCOTUS case seems to focus on states rights v

the federal government's Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (Clinton admin), which protects civilian employment of service members.

Regarding ONLY this case, though, Torres was a TX state trooper in 2007 who became active duty military, was deployed to Iraq and became consistently ill there from what he contends were conditions many were subjected to, from the burn pits.

In 2008 he returned ill to TX and to his position with the state but was in the ER only 3 weeks after his return. He was so ill he couldn't do his former job, and the state's reasons for believing he couldn't be transferred to other duties are not stated. He spent the succeeding years battling illness, and in 2017, 8 years after return from Iraq, he sued Texas for $5 M for discriminating against him for having served in the military.

I have no idea how the this law and TX's responsibilities under it will be interpreted, but -- by his own history -- it really sounds to me like his case should be against the VA for lifetime care and whatever disability living assistance he requires. The VA contends that there isn’t enough conclusive research to prove the connection between burn pits and the problems of many ex-military claimants.

Sounds like a case that needs to be taken up. Extremely few employers have the kind of resources state governments, and the VA, have. This law wasn't intended to give the VA's giant legal machinery excuse for shuffling responsibility for sick vets off to former employers, but that's one resuilt.