Re: Supreme Court rules in favor of burn pit veteran in wrongful termination case

[Bend over Texas]

In article <XnsAC9F93...@95.216.243.224>
<governo...@gmail.com> wrote:

A former Texas state trooper and veteran will be able to
continue with his wrongful termination case after the Supreme
Court ruled in his favor on Wednesday over claims he was forced
out of his job when he returned from Army service in Iraq.

The justices ruled in a 5-4 vote that Army veteran Le Roy
Torres’ rights to employment were under a federal law that was
enacted in 1994 in the wake of the Persian Gulf War for
returning service members.

"I'm beyond thrilled and thankful that the Supreme Court agrees
with our position and upheld the rights of service members like
myself," Torres told Fox News in an interview after receiving
news of the ruling. "You come back from war, and you think your
job is protected."

He went on, "Today's vote brings a sense of peace and some type
of closure for me, as well as the things that I've been dealing
with for these four or five years with my job loss."

The service member claimed he was forced to resign from his post
as a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety
(DPS). His ouster came after he was experiencing the effects of
extensive lung damage he developed after his exposure to burn
pits while serving as a U.S. Army reservist in Balad, Iraq.

Torres first filed a lawsuit against the DPS and the state of
Texas back in February 2017, claiming his worker rights under
the Uniformed Services and Employment and Reemployment Rights
Act of 1994 (USERRA), a federal statute strengthening job
protections for service members, were violated. The state
countered his claims and argued in court that Texas had
sovereign immunity from lawsuits like Torres' and his case had
been stalled in the Texas courts ever since.

"It was just this moment of restoration for us, a moment of
hope." Leroy’s wife, Rosie Torres, told Fox News. "The SCOTUS
decision gave us a piece of our life back today, and I feel not
just for us, for our family, but for the thousands of families
waiting on this decision with Leroy's case."

The high court rejected Texas' claim that it's shielded from
such lawsuits.

"Text, history, and precedent show that the States, in coming
together to form a Union, agreed to sacrifice their sovereign
immunity for the good of the common defense," Justice Stephen
Breyer wrote for the court.

Torres was called up for duty from the reserves in 2007 while
serving as a trooper in the Lone Star State. It was during that
time that he was exposed to burn pits at his base in Balad. The
pits were often used across many U.S. military bases across Iraq
and Afghanistan during the wars as a crude method of
incineration in which every piece of waste generated on the base
was burned, including plastics, batteries, appliances, medicine,
dead animals and even human waste.

The items were often set ablaze with jet fuel as the accelerant
with over 1,000 different chemical compounds burning into the
air, day and night.

Torres returned home to Texas in 2007 and resumed his duty as a
state trooper a year later, after an honorable discharge from
military service. It was around that time that he also started
feeling the effects of his burn pit exposure.

The veteran claimed it was during that time when he started
waking up with debilitating headaches that often lasted
throughout the day.

It was while he was chasing a suspect during the summer of 2009
that Torres realized something was truly wrong with his health.

"I was in a lot of pain with chest pressure. I was afraid that I
was having a stroke and I had no backup until like 10 minutes
later," Torres told Fox News back in March. "I felt really
horrible that day, and that's when I knew that there was
something going on."

The trooper started calling out sick, unable to perform his
patrol duties. Torres was experiencing a myriad of symptoms
including debilitating headaches, vertigo, and a persistent,
unforgiving cough.

He eventually learned his exposure to those burn pits at his
base in Balad had led to toxic brain injury and several lung
ailments.

Once diagnosed, Torres said he returned to his commanding
officers at DPS and informed them that he wanted to return to
work but that due to his condition he could no longer go on
patrol and requested accommodations for a desk job. The trooper
said he was denied his request and was offered his original
position and told that he would be fired if he could not perform
his duties. Torres essentially was forced to leave his job.

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled in his favor, Torres said
he's looking forward to bringing his case back to the Texas
courts. Both he and his family said they hoped Wednesday’s
decision will help set precedent in favor of other service
members who have gone through the same issues.

"The way Leroy was treated; he was stripped of his dignity, of
the honor of him serving our state. The way they approached it
was heart-wrenching for him, and to see SCOTUS side with what is
right gives us hope," Rosie Torres said.

"Future generations will say, ‘You know what? Now I do feel
confident enough to join the Army, to defend our freedom because
I know that our jobs will be protected.’"

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-rules-burn-pit-
veteran-wrongful-termination-case