Carroll v. Black
Matthew CARROLL, Appellant, v. Kermit BLACK, Et Al., Appellees
Opinion
OPINION VANCE, Justice.
Matthew Carroll sued several Texas A & M University officials claiming wrongful discharge. The defendants filed a plea to the jurisdiction asserting the defense of sovereign immunity. After a hearing, the court granted the defendants’ plea to the jurisdiction. Carroll appeals on one point: Does the Sabine Pilot exception to the employment-at-will doctrine apply to public employees asserting the defense of sovereign immunity?
See Sabine Pilot Serv. Inc. v. Rauch, 687 S.W.2d 733 (Tex.1985).
Texas has long adhered to the employment-at-will doctrine.
East Line & R.R.R. Co. v. Scott, 72 Tex. 70, 75 , 10 S.W. 99, 102 (1888). Some exceptions have been made to the doctrine by statute.
See, e.g., Tex Labor Code Ann. § 451.001 (Vernon 1996) (discharge for filing worker’s compensation claim); Tex Gov’t Code Ann. § 554.002 (Whistleblower Act) (Vernon Supp. 1996). In 1985, our Supreme Court created a “very narrow” judicial exception to the employment-at-will doctrine: an employer may not discharge an employee “for the sole reason that the employee refused to perform an illegal act.”
Sabine Pilot, 687 S.W.2d at 735 .
The appellees do not dispute that the Sabine Pilot exception to the at-will doctrine exists. Instead, they argue that the exception does not overcome their defense of sovereign immunity. As state officials who were acting in their official capacity, appellees assert that — absent legislative consent or statutory exception — they are entitled to the immunity defense.
See Bagg v. University of Texas Med. Branch, 726 S.W.2d 582, 586 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1987, writ ref d n.r.e.).
The justifications for sovereign immunity have long been criticized.
1
Green Intern., Inc. v. State, 877 S.W.2d 428, 433 (Tex.
*135 App.—Austin 1994, writ denied, order withdrawn, dism’d). However, the waiver of sovereign immunity is a matter properly addressed to the legislature.
University of Texas Med. Branch v. York, 871 S.W.2d 175, 177 (Tex.1994).
Because we find neither legislative consent nor a statutory exception to sovereign immunity, we cannot say the trial court erred in dismissing CarrolTs suit. We affirm the judgment.
1
. Former Supreme Court Justice William Kilgar-lin has filed an amicus curiae brief denouncing the doctrines of sovereign immunity and employment-at-will as "relics of the past.”
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