Oregon Public Broadcasting

Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court used an Oregon case to clarify national employment law. Ethan Lindsey reports.

Seven years ago, Anup Engquist lost her job at the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Oregon's courts ruled she was dismissed unfairly, for a simple reason -- her boss just didn't like her.

Now the Supreme Court has ruled that the government can in fact dismiss an employee for an arbitrary reason like that.

The court found the only time a public employee can sue over a lost job is if there's discrimination on the basis of race, gender or another federally protected category.

Lewis & Clark Law School professor Henry Drummonds says the court was driven in part by the sheer number of employment lawsuits that could be filed by government workers.

Henry Drummonds: “Undoubtedly, a justice wants to make a decision that is in legal terms, defensible. But at the same time, judges are human beings, and one prominent school of legal philosophy says that judges take into account practical implications.”

He says over the past decade, the Supreme Court has consistently limited the rights of public employees.

The Supreme Court also agreed Monday to review for the third time an $80 million jury award to the family of a Portland man who died of lung cancer after a lifetime of smoking.