EAST ST. LOUIS – Attorney General Kwame Raoul challenges federal jurisdiction over a claim that the state improperly tried to recover health care premiums from an employee it fired for not wearing a mask.
On Dec. 14 Raoul moved to dismiss a suit that former correctional officer Garrett Rose filed at U. S. district court.
Raoul assistant Thomas Ewick wrote, “Sovereign immunity bars a damages action in federal court against a state or a state official sued in his official capacity.”
He claims the state didn’t waive its immunity or consent to the suit.
Rose, age 28, worked at Centralia correctional center.
In March, officials reprimanded him twice and suspended him seven times.
They suspended him pending discharge in May and they discharged him in June.
They stated that blatant violations of directives cast serious doubt on his suitability to retain his position.
His counsel, Darrell Dunham of Carbondale, appealed to the civil service commission.
In September, the state’s central management department notified Rose that an underpayment occurred on his health and dental plans.
The department billed him $1,195.92 to reimburse health and dental premiums it paid for him from March to May.
The department advised him to pay by Oct. 25 or the comptroller would withhold the amount from his wages as a Central City policeman.
On Oct. 31, in district court, Dunham filed a complaint for Rose against the state, central management, and management director Anthony Pascente.
He stated Rose is married with two children; he produces the primary income and takes home $2,400 a month.
He claimed the state couldn’t seize wages without a hearing.
He asked for a temporary injunction and District Judge Stephen McGlynn granted it on Nov. 11, pending a hearing.
“There can be no adequate remedy at law for the loss of his home if he cannot pay his mortgage, the loss of electricity if he cannot pay a utility bill, the loss of his car if he cannot pay his loan, or the lack of food on his family’s table,” McGlynn wrote.
He found any harm to the state from an injunction would pale in comparison.
“Although Rose’s loss of wages could be compensated for later if he prevails in his suit, he would be irreparably harmed because those wages are essential for the support and welfare of his family now,” he wrote.
Ewick’s motion to dismiss the complaint relied on the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state or by citizens of any foreign state,” it states.
Emick claimed it has long been held that the amendment embodies principles of sovereign immunity that also bars suits against a state by its own citizens.
He separately claimed McGlynn should dismiss the complaint as premature because central management hasn’t garnished or withheld his wages.
He claimed McGlynn should dismiss management director Pascente because the complaint didn’t allege personal involvement on his part.