Supreme Court Narrows Rights of Public Employees

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture.  Although its decision deals only with public or government employers, the Court’s ruling is a significant victory for all employers.

In this case, a state government employee claimed that her job was was eliminated after years of bad treatment by her bosses.  She sued under the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, alleging discrimination on the basis of her sex, race, national origin and as a “class of one.”  The last element of the employee’s claim was that she was fired for “arbitrary, vindictive, and malicious reasons” unique to her situation.  A jury rejected her sex, race and national origin claims but awarded her $425,000 for her “class of one” claim.

In reversing the jury’s verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that “the federal court is not the appropriate forum in which to review the multitude of personnel decisions that are made daily by public agencies.”  In other words, government employees who are singled out for arbitrary, irrational or even vindictive treatment by their supervisors don’t have a valid claim under the 14 Amendment unless this treatment can be tied to an employee’s race, sex, or other protected category.

Had the Court ruled otherwise, Pandora’s box could have well been opened as far as public or government employees are concerned.  A lot of employees feel mistreated at times.  If a lawsuit were allowed for mistreatment unrelated to unlawful discrimination (that is, discrimination based on one of the recognized protected classes), it’s reasonable to believe that there would have been an explosion of employment lawsuits in the public or government arena.  In a case involving an employee’s claim for individual mistreatment against a private employer, it seems that the Court would reach the same result.