Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture
Issues
Should the class-of-one theory under which state actors may be sued for arbitrary discrimination against individuals apply equally to public employers with regards to their hiring, firing, and other decisions, or should public employers be exempted from such claims due to the subjective nature of employment decisions?
Under what is known as the class-of-one theory, an individual plaintiff can bring an Equal Protection claim against a state actor for "irrational and wholly arbitrary treatment." The person is a "class-of-one" when she alleges that the government is subjecting only her to differing and unique treatment compared to others similarly situated. This differs from a traditional Equal Protection claim, in which a person alleges discriminatory acts by the government against an entire group of people treated differently because of a protected characteristic like race. Anup Engquist brought such a claim against her employer, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, alleging that it arbitrarily failed to promote her to a position for which she was qualified, allowed a supervisor with whom she had an acrimonious relationship to harass and degrade her, and eventually laid her off. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in overturning the District Court that found in her favor on the Equal Protection claim, held that the class-of-one theory is inapplicable to decisions made by state employers with regard to their employment decisions. Engquist has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, arguing that there is no basis in the Equal Protection Clause for a limitation on class-of-one claims in the employment context. The Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Ninth Circuit assert that class-of-one cases are appropriate when the government is acting as regulator, but not as employer.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
The Ninth Circuit below vacated the jury's verdict in favor of Petitioner Engquist and created a divisive split with the seven Circuits that apply the "rational basis" analysis to public employees who claim their termination was a result of unequal treatment, even if that treatment did not result from the employee's membership in a suspect class. The question presented is:
Whether traditional equal protection "rational basis" analysis under Village of Willowbrook v Olech, 528 US 562, 120 S Ct 1073, 145 L Ed 2d 1060 (2000), applies to public employers who intentionally treat similarly situated employees differently with no rational bases for arbitrary, vindictive or malicious reasons?
In Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture, the Supreme Court will resolve a circuit split regarding whether an individual government employee can bring an Equal Protection claim against her employer, a state government agency, for treating her differently than other similarly-situated employees.