Texas Supreme Court muffles whistleblower law

Texas has a whistleblower law for public employees. Like playing an accordion, the Texas Supreme Court has both expanded and contracted the statute’s scope over the last several years. On May 27, 2022, the court issued an opinion contracting the scope.

Pop quiz

Here is the statute in question: “A state or local governmental entity may not suspend or terminate the employment of, or take other adverse personnel action against, a public employee who in good faith reports a violation of law by the employing governmental entity or another public employee to an appropriate law enforcement authority.”

So, here is the quiz in the form of a multiple-choice question: The whistleblower statute is designed to protect all of the following except:

• Reports exposing unlawful conduct;
• Reports corroborating unlawful conduct;
• Reports providing information pertinent to identifying or investigating unlawful conduct; or
• Reports voicing an opinion on the alleged occurrence of unlawful conduct.

And the correct answer is the fourth and final choice.

What happened?

Two management-level employees in the Fort Worth police department were assigned to investigate alleged police officer misconduct involving the use of excessive force (among other matters). Specifically, a white officer had been accused of abusing black citizens.