Washington, DC –Wiley, a preeminent Washington, DC law firm, filed separate amicus briefs for the case, Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety, that were used to help the U.S. Supreme Court hold that states cannot assert sovereign immunity from suits for employment discrimination under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).

The briefs were filed on February 8, 2022 on behalf of Professor Jeffrey M. Hirsch and the Reserve Organization of America (ROA), supporting a challenge to state sovereign immunity by a former military member, Le Roy Torres, who alleges that his former employer, the Texas Department of Public Safety, unlawfully discriminated against him on the basis of injuries he sustained while deployed to Iraq as a member of the United States Army Reserve.

The Supreme Court’s Decision can be read here.

“The Court’s decision affirms the importance of reemployment rights to the national defense,” said Wiley partner Scott Felder, Chair of Wiley’s Veterans’ Affinity Group and part of the team representing ROA. “This reinforces that USERRA ensures that those who choose to serve our country are not disadvantaged in the workforce, strips states of their ability to claim sovereign immunity to the protections offered to veterans, and helps ensure uniformity in the application of USERRA, both from state-to-state and from employer-to-employer.”

The amicus brief filed on behalf of Professor Hirsch, a legal scholar with expertise in sovereign...

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