The Texas Employment Lawyer's Association has issued the following statement regarding this remarkable moment in history:

 

 

 

 

June 8, 2020

 

To Whom it May Concern:

 

The Texas Employment Lawyers Association is a voluntary association of lawyers

who protect the rights of workers throughout the State of Texas. We stand with

people who oppose prejudice and discrimination against black people. We stand

with people who opposed discrimination against black people decades ago and

those opposing it today.

 

We need system-wide change. Piecemeal prosecution of individual instances of

race-based discrimination — in policing, housing, schools, voting, public accommodations,

and employment — can bring change. But we see laws designed decades

ago to guarantee equality being diluted. We see black people denied the right

to have their cases of discrimination heard in their own communities by a jury of

their peers.

 

We need system-wide change. Here are changes we support:

 

We can eliminate the judge-created doctrine of qualified immunity. Government

officials hide from liability for retaliating against those who speak out about discrimination

against black people. Learn more here: https://lpgeorgia.com/endqualifiedimmunity/

 

We can eliminate “summary” judgment in race discrimination cases — the procedural

device by which companies and governments hide discrimination by having

judges, rather than a jury of people from our communities, decide what constitutes

race discrimination. Learn more here: Suja A. Thomas, Why Summary Judgment

Is Unconstitutional, 93 VA. L. REV. 139 (2007) 

 

We need system-wide change. Black Lives Matter.

Sincerely,

 

 

 

David L. Wiley

President, Texas Employment Lawyers Association

 

A copy of this statement may be downloaded here.