Texas Supreme Court: 1.5 victories for employee

The Texas Supreme Court recently weighed in on the disability discrimination parts of the Texas Labor Code, plus retaliation claims. A veritable feast.

First course: Employer’s policy is its undoing

Albert Lara was a 21-year employee of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). He fell ill in April 2015 with severe stomach ailments. After he had surgery, he wanted to return to work, but his doctors kept postponing the return date. The last return date was October 21, but his employer terminated him effective September 16.

It seems Lara had exhausted his paid leave, which triggered his termination. After all, work needed to get done, according to TxDOT. His supervisor testified Lara was the only inspector assigned to a certain county, he couldn’t keep assigning other inspectors to substitute for Lara, and he needed to hire a permanent replacement. So why was there a lawsuit?

Here goes: TxDOT has a “leave without pay” (LWOP) policy. Here is the Texas Supreme Court’s a summary of the policy:

Under that policy, an employee suffering from illness or injury can receive up to one year of unpaid leave after his paid leave expires. The policy states that LWOP is discretionary but that an employee’s supervisor “must grant” LWOP if the employee “requires [it] as a reasonable accommodation for a disability.”