Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety

142 S. Ct. 2455 (2022)

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Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety

United States Supreme Court
142 S. Ct. 2455 (2022)

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Facts

In 1994, Congress enacted the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). The statute, enacted pursuant to Congress’s national-defense powers, gave certain veterans the right to reclaim their old jobs with state employers upon return from deployment. The statute also permitted veterans to sue if their state employers did not accommodate their service-related disabilities. Le Roy Torres (plaintiff), a Texas state trooper and Army reservist, was called to active duty and deployed to Iraq, where he developed constrictive bronchitis after exposure to toxic burn pits. When Torres returned home, he was too sick to work as a state trooper, so he asked his former employer, the Texas Department of Public Safety (the department) (defendant) to accommodate his service-related disability by rehiring him in a different role. The department refused, and Torres filed a state-court lawsuit arguing that the refusal to accommodate his disability violated USERRA. The department moved to dismiss, asserting sovereign immunity. The trial court denied the motion, the state appellate court reversed, and the Texas Supreme Court denied review. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Breyer, J.)

Dissent (Thomas, J.)

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