(DOWNLOAD) "State V. Lueck" by In the Supreme Court of Texas * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: State V. Lueck
- Author : In the Supreme Court of Texas
- Release Date : January 26, 2009
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 59 KB
Description
Under the Texas Whistleblower Act, sovereign immunity is waived when a public employee alleges a violation of Chapter 554 of the Government Code. TEX. GOV'T CODE§ 554.0035. A violation under Chapter 554 occurs when a governmental entity retaliates against a public employee for making a good-faith report of a violation of law to an appropriate law enforcement authority. Id. § 554.002(a). George Lueck was fired from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) after he sent an e-mail to the director of the Transportation Planning and Programming Division, reporting what he believed to be violations of state and federal law. Lueck then sued the State of Texas and TxDOT under the Whistleblower Act, alleging that he "was fired because of his good faith reports of TxDOT's violation of state and federal law." We hold that, because Lueck's e-mail report only warned of regulatory non-compliance, not a violation of law, and because an agency supervisor is not an appropriate law enforcement authority to whom a report should be made, Lueck's allegation affirmatively negates the court's subject-matter jurisdiction over the cause. The State's sovereign immunity is not waived, and thus, we reverse the court of appeals' judgment and dismiss the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.