Attorneys for four former employees who sued after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fired them asked the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to take up their whistleblower case again, worried that their $3.3 million settlement agreement may be falling apart.
The move comes after the former employees claimed Paxton’s team would not agree to a deadline to finalize legislative approval of the settlement. The two sides had agreed to put the case on pause while they sought the approval of the payments from the Legislature.
The whistleblowers are former deputies to Paxton who say they were fired in retribution for accusing him of corruption to law enforcement.
The multimillion-dollar settlement, announced last month, would give back pay to the four former employees and would include an apology from Paxton as well as other concessions. But the agreement needs to be approved by state lawmakers, who have expressed an unwillingness to use taxpayer dollars to settle Paxton’s case. At the request of the parties in January, the Texas Supreme Court put the whistleblower case on pause while the two sides looked to finalize the deal. But without a deadline, the case could be on pause indefinitely, attorneys for the former employees said on Wednesday.