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Texas Third Court of Appeals (Austin)
Fired ISD Police Officer Loses Appeal
Ruling: A fired ISD police officer did not meet the minimum requirements, under applicable state law, to claim that he was retaliated against for reporting what he said were failures by his supervisors and other officers. Austin ISD v. Rodney Anderson, No. 03-21-00286-CV. Issued Aug. 25.

Texas Whistleblower Act
This decision primarily revolves around provisions in the Texas Whistleblower Act that prohibits governmental entities from retaliating against a governmental employee for making a report to a law enforcement entity that the employee in good faith believes the authority is authorized to regulate or enforce the law alleged to be violated, or to investigate or prosecute a violation of criminal law.

Anderson claimed that he was fired from his at-will position as a lieutenant in AISD’s police department for (among other things) sending an anonymous letter to the school board reporting that his police department superiors violated several AISD policies by mishandling a “terroristic” threat at a high school.

The justices concluded that Anderson’s Whistleblower claim fails because Anderson would have known that the school board is not a law enforcement agency.

Anderson also said he made several complaints to his superiors that also led to his firing, such as his claim that a fellow officer was sleeping on the job, and another officer was working off-duty jobs while on medical leave.
The justices concluded that this Whistleblower claim fails because what Anderson reported were matters involving the district’s policies, and were not criminal offenses.

The justices also dismissed Anderson’s claim that he was fired due to his race (African American), and they instead pointed to evidence in the record that Anderson was fired for poor job performance reasons.