State getting sued for nixing the right to work for 2 social workers

The state of Texas, like the rest of America, is confronted now with an exploding mental health and substance abuse crisis, with what has been called a “dire shortage” of professional social workers to help people cope.

So it banned two workers, grandmothers with masters degrees, from the industry, because they’d been involved in assault cases years ago when they both were fighting substance abuse problems.

And the state is getting sued over its restrictions.

It is the Institute for Justice that has sued the state on behalf of Katherin Youniacutt and Tammy Thompson, saying they should not be punished permanently for past mistakes during troubled times from which they have fled.

It is the Texas Constitution that protects Texans’ right to earn an honest living in an occupation of their choosing without unreasonable government interference, and a state ban on them pursuing social work that appear to conflict.

“No one should be permanently barred from a job because of irrelevant criminal convictions,” said IJ lawyer James Knight. “Katherin and Tammy made mistakes and paid for them. Permanently punishing them doesn’t protect the public. It just makes it harder for people to pull themselves up and provide for their families. That’s unconstitutional.”

The substance abuse issues and related problems all came about more than a decade ago.

The institute said they have “turned their lives around and want to help people who have faced similar problems.”

The lawyers noted it is a 2019 law adopted in the state that “permanently bars people with an assault conviction from obtaining a social work license,” and that has destroyed plans by the two for helping people after the two worked on their dreams.

“Previously, the board in charge of licensing had the discretion to award licenses to those with convictions based on evidence presented to them. Now, its hands are tied, and even people like Katherin and Tammy with over a decade of good behavior and years of training must be categorically denied without a hearing,” the IJ explained.

Youniacutt explained, “All I want is to help people so they won’t make the same mistakes I did. Texas isn’t just punishing me, it’s punishing all the people I could be helping right now.”

And Thompson, in a statement released by her lawyers, said, “I’ve spent decades turning my life around and years preparing for the chance to work as a social worker. People should be able to prove they’ve moved on, but in Texas the past is all that seems to matter.”

The IJ said its work includes fighting those “permanent punishment laws” across the nation, and it already has handled battles in Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Maryland.