The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday reaffirmed its position that lawmakers cannot decide when citizens have the right to sue the state, even as several of the justices wrote separately to raise concerns with the rulings, which uphold “sovereign immunity.”
It was the second time this year that a majority of the court ruled that state employees are barred from suing for back wages under the Arkansas Minimum Wage Act.
In January, the court handed down its decision in University of Arkansas System v. Andrews, which overturned more than 20 years of precedent that had allowed the Legislature to draft exemptions to sovereign immunity, such as those in the minimum wage law.
The court Thursday said that another case before it, Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs v. Mallett & Fabits, essentially raised the same points decided in Andrews.
“As we stated in Andrews, the avenue for financial redress is through the Claims Commission,” Justice Rhonda Wood wrote for the majority. Justices Shawn Womack and Robin Wynne joined Wood’s opinion.
But three dissenting justices — Karen Baker, Courtney Goodson and Josephine Hart — wrote a trio of dissents finding flaws in the majority’s continued approach toward sovereign immunity. They said the rulings would lead to more confusion over when it is legal to take the state to court.
In her dissent, Goodson wrote that “the court has struggled in finding a majority that understands the application of Andrews.”
Chief Justice Dan Kemp concurred with the majority, though he write separately to remind Arkansans that they have the ability to change the state constitution if they find fault with it.
In a separate decision Thursday regarding the licensing process of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission, the justices did not address questions about the scope of sovereign immunity that had been raised by the litigants.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
