August 22, 2014 12:15 PM

Federal judge sides against Abbott in case about hiring of felons

Abbott jumped the gun in suing the feds, judge says

A district judge in Lubbock has tossed out Attorney General Greg Abbott’s challenge of new EEOC rules that limit the exclusion of felons from state employment, calling the lawsuit premature.

That directly conflicts with Texas law, which prohibits certain state agencies from allowing felons to hold “positions of trust.” In Texas, crimes that reach the degree of felony can range from state felony (stealing property worth more than $1,500) to a capital felony (any crime punishable by death or life in prison).

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission considers the outright exclusion of felons, regardless of charge, to be a possible violation of “unlawful disparate-impact practice” under Title VII, which is the section of the Civil Rights Act that focuses on employment discrimination. According to the NAACP, blacks are incarcerated at a rate six times that of whites, making up 40 percent of all inmates.

In a news conference last November, Abbott called the hiring guidelines “an absurd new regulation being that’s being imposed by the Obama administration, a regulation that contradicts Texas law and jeopardizes the safety of Texans.” Employees in Texas such as schoolteachers, state troopers and those who work at the Texas Department of Juvenile Justice are in positions of trust, justifying felony exclusions.

By Kimberly Reeves