Friday, August 8, 2008
Feds May be Sued for Actions of Tribal Employees Paid by Federal Grants, Court Says
A tribal employee paid under a federal grant may be considered a federal employee under the Federal Tort Claims Act, according to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. In Fire Cloud & Wilson v. U.S., the court found that since the tribal employee, whose actions formed the basis for the suit, was paid through funds from a federal program and was closely supervised by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he was under the agency’s control and could be considered an employee for the purposes of an FTCA lawsuit.
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What impact will that be for tribal employees who are not funded by the BIA but Child Care Bureau or Head Start Bureau, ACF?
ReplyDeleteThis is not a legal opinion, just our reading of this case. Under most circumstances tribal employees will not be considered federal employees, therefore eliminating any tort liability on the part of the federal government. In this case, the tribal employee was directly supervised by BIA law enforcement.
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