Allbritain was discharged by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) after allegedly committing insurance fraud on an insurance claim involving her home. Order at p. 1. Criminal charges against Allbritain were ultimately dismissed, and she filed a wrongful termination suit against TDI, alleging racial and age discrimination, retaliatory discharge, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Id. at 2-3. The Court granted TDI’s motion for summary judgment on all claims. Id. at 3.
The Court found that Alibritain’s claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and her state law claims for defamation, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress were barred by sovereign immunity. Id. at 6. Judge Sparks also concluded that Allbritain’s racial discrimination claim failed because (i) her supervisor’s refusal to allow Allbritain to telecommute was not an “adverse employment action”; (ii) the failure to reassign Allbritain her preferred support staff was not an “adverse employment action”; (iii) the refusal to allow her to run out her vacation and compensatory time after being fired was not an “adverse employment action”; (iv) Allbritain failed to provide evidence demonstrating she “was treated less favorably than other similarly situated persons outside the protected class”; and (iv) Allbritain failed to rebut TDI’s evidence of a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the termination of her employment. Id. at 6-16. Finally, the court rejected Allbritain’s retaliation claim because she failed to identify with specificity the “protected activity” or the “adverse employment action.” Id. at 16-17.