Chris Callaway, a Texas Ranger, had seen more than his share of trauma. By 2017, the job had taken its toll, and he took medical leave for alcoholism and PTSD. He transferred back to the Criminal Investigations Division in 2018, then took more leave in late 2019 for inpatient treatment.
On January 15, 2020, while still out on medical leave, Callaway and his wife received a call from their daughter’s high school. Counselors reported that their daughter might soon be detained due to a mental health crisis. Callaway grabbed his Department of Public Safety (DPS) badge, handcuffs, and personal sidearm, and hurried to the school.
Inside the small office where his daughter was being held, Callaway loudly confronted one counselor. A second counselor joined when she heard the ruckus. When two school district police officers arrived and advised that they would be transporting Callaway’s daughter to a behavioral-health facility, Callaway ordered them to “get out of [his] office right now.” He displayed his DPS badge and threatened to prove “who has got a bigger set of handcuffs” by putting the officers “in jail for interfering with [his] rights as a parent.” When the counselor’s office phone rang, he yelled at her not to answer it. That counselor later reported that she “felt trapped and feared for [her] safety and [her] life” and had “never been so afraid.”
“A few days later, the school district’s police department sought to charge Callaway with abuse of official capacity (a Class A misdemeanor), official oppression (another Class A misdemeanor), and interference with public duties (a Class B misdemeanor)… The district attorney later dropped those criminal charges.”
DPS fired Callaway after investigating the incident. The Director testified: “[A] DPS Officer has an obligation to control their emotions when they get there, plain and simple. And one thing you can’t do, you can’t walk into… an office and order a police officer out when he’s trying to do his official job, plain and simple.”
Callaway sued under Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code, alleging disability discrimination. He attributed his misconduct to his PTSD diagnosis, noting in an affidavit that due to “repeated exposure to trauma,” he “stay[s] in an elevated state of hypervigilance” and “when it takes over, things often end with less than optimal outcomes.”
“The trial court denied DPS’s joint plea to the jurisdiction, traditional motion for summary judgment, and no-evidence motion for summary judgment. On interlocutory appeal, the court of appeals ‘affirm[ed] the trial court’s judgment with respect to Callaway’s claim that his termination was motivated by discrimination based on his PTSD disability,’ but ‘render[ed] a judgment of dismissal for want of jurisdiction on the remainder of Callaway’s claims.’” DPS appealed.
The Texas Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals and rendered judgment for DPS. The Court focused on Section 21.105, which provides that a provision referring to discrimination because of disability “applies only to discrimination because of a physical or mental condition that does not impair an individual’s ability to reasonably perform a job.” If a disability limits an individual’s ability to perform the job, Chapter 21 simply does not prevent the employer from terminating that person because of the impairment.
The Court applied an objective standard. DPS cannot give someone a sidearm and a badge, send him out to handle stressful interactions, and then have that officer snap under pressure. To do so would unreasonably endanger citizens and officers alike. By “throwing his weight around” with officers from the school district’s police department, Callaway created a grave risk of violence.
Callaway made almost no effort to argue that he remained qualified. He devoted less than a full page of his brief to the issue, cited Section 21.105 zero times, and argued only that he remained “qualified for his position” because he was “a licensed peace officer in the State of Texas.” That was not enough.
The Court acknowledged that Texans should give thanks for men like Callaway who put their health on the line for sixteen years of DPS service. But Director McCraw made the decision to fire a Special Agent whose PTSD objectively impaired his ongoing ability to protect and serve. In the Court’s eyes, that decision promoted public safety and did not give rise to a disability discrimination claim.
Tex. Dep’t of Pub. Safety v. Callaway, 2026 Tex. LEXIS 285.