GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY v. JUSTICE., 2024 WL 4536186 (Ga., 2024)
Here’s a Supreme Court opinion from today about the Ex Contractu Clause. I previously sent out the Court of Appeals’ opinion. It goes into the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act and relies on Federal Defender.
Because Justice’s claim arises from his employment contract, and that contract is written, sovereign immunity is waived for his action based on the breach of the written employment contract. Although the Court of Appeals correctly held that DPS waived sovereign immunity for the breach of the written at-will employment contract that DPS and Justice entered on December 12, 2018, the Court of Appeals improperly considered whether DPS was contractually obligated to comply with the FLSA. And the trial court improperly determined whether, assuming the existence of a valid written contract, it included FLSA overtime compensation provisions. The latter question goes to the merits of Justice’s action and thus was not relevant to sovereign immunity and was not appropriate to consider on a motion to dismiss based on an asserted lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. On remand, however, the trial court will be authorized to address the merits of the case in response to the pleadings and motions other than the motion to dismiss on the ground of sovereign immunity. Those merits issues may include, but are not limited to, whether the FLSA obligations became part of Justice’s written employment contract and whether DPS breached contractual terms that Justice alleges are part of the written contract.
