In honor of our service members, we’ll look at the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act ("USERRA") and state employment.

Under USERRA, service members who leave their employment to perform military obligations are entitled to be returned to that employment.

I’ve worked on several of those cases at the trial and lower-appeal levels, and an issue that keeps coming up is whether state employers can be held accountable for violating USERRA. Congress created USERRA using its Constitutional War Powers, and the question is whether it could thereby authorize lawsuits against state employers without their consent.

That question is currently pending in the Supreme Court of the United States ("SCOTUS"). That case is Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety, Docket No. 20-603. It delves into the War Powers, state sovereign immunity, and even the plan of the constitutional convention.

The case was argued on March 29, 2022. According to the SCOTUS website, “No one knows exactly when a decision will be handed down by the Court in an argued case, nor is there a set time period in which the Justices must reach a decision. However, all cases argued during a Term of Court are decided before the summer recess begins, usually by the end of June.”

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USERRA: https://www.justice.gov/crt-military/...

Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety, U.S. Supreme Court Docket No. 20-603: https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/d...

Background adapted from: https://diversity.lbl.gov/2020/11/10/...

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Disclaimer: What would “lawyerly” videos be without a disclaimer? Law can be complex, and it changes. That’s why you shouldn’t make any decisions based on this video. Instead, you should speak with a lawyer familiar with the current law that could apply to your situation.