Opinion ID: 35363
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: makes a showing of a plain violation of a con-

Text: Plaintiffs argue that defendants violated stitution right, he further must prove that the their First Amendment rights by terminating violation was objectively unreasonable. them on account of protected speech. A pub- lic employee may not be discharged for exer- Plaintiffs say that they were fired not for cising his right to free speech. Thompson v. failing to stay on post for their whole work City of Starkville, 901 F.2d 456, 460 (5th Cir. period, but because of various complaints they 1990). The district court concluded that de- had voiced concerning their treatment and the fendants are protected by qualified immunity quality of their work conditions. Though they under the Eleventh Amendment. show that they suffered an adverse employment action by virtue of their termination, they The Eleventh Amendment prohibits federal fail to satisfy other elements of a showing of courts from exercising jurisdiction over suits the violation of a clearly established constituagainst non-consenting states. Seminole Tribe tional right. v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44, 72-73 (1996). For Eleventh Amendment purposes, a suit against Plaintiffs repeat now that the matters they a state agency such as the TABC is a suit complained of largely concerned such things against the state. See Pennhurst State School as the delapidated conditions of their work & Hosp. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 98, 100 areas, lack of computer training, and unfavor- (1984). Nonetheless, a plaintiff may sue in- able work schedules. They also made clear at dividual state officials via 42 U.S.C. § 1983. numerous times their distaste for the allegedly Burns-Toole v. Byrne, 11 F.3d 1270, 1273 n.3 drunken and surly Murillo. These, however, (5th Cir. 1994). are not complaints made by plaintiffs in their capacity as citizens, but are merely complaints Section 1983 actions against state officials in their capacity as employees. See Connick v. in their individual capacities are limited by the Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 147-48 (1983). doctrine of qualified immunity, id., which al- lows government officials to exercise their of- Public employees may not rely on the Conficial duties with independence and without stitution to redress personal grievances; sucfear of liability, so long as they do not act with cessful First Amendment retaliation claims plain incompetence or disregard of the law. must be based on repression of speech made See Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341 by employees speaking as in their role as a cit- (1986). To defeat qualified immunity, a plain- izen, rather than only as an employee. Id. 3 Matters of public concern include misuse of ceived better treatment. The treatment of public money or other corruption but generally those employees, however, is not under “neardo not encompass complaints about churlish ly identical” circumstances, given their differor incompetent management. See Marohnic v. ent job descriptions, disciplinary rules, and inWalker, 800 F.2d 613, 616 (6th Cir. 1988). dividual supervisors. See Okoye v. Univ. of Tex. Health Sci. Ctr., 245 F.3d 507, 514 (5th As the district court observed, Jaime’s Cir. 2001). And, as the district court obcomplaints concerning improper tax stamp served, even had the plaintiffs shown a prima procedures might be deemed to be relating to facie case, they failed to provide evidence, in public concerns of administrative efficiency the form of affidavits, statistical data, or otherand propriety, but Fox, who fired Jaime, was wise, that the reason defendants offered for unaware of those complaints, which thus can- their termination was pretextual. Employees’ not be said to have motivated the termination. subjective feelings and conclusional allegations Likewise, Ugarte’s complaints to the Health of bias cannot alone suffice to prove discrimiDepartment, inasmuch as they involved issues natory intent. relating to public matters of concern, were equally unknown to Fox or anyone else in- AFFIRMED. volved in his termination.