Total Articles: 5
High Court Limits Public Employee First Amendment Retaliation Claims
In Burough of Duryea v. Guarnieri, one of several important rulings issued this week, the United States Supreme Court limited retaliation claims by public employees under the Petition Clause of the First Amendment to cases in which the employee’s petition relates to matter of “public concern."
School District Not Liable For School Employees’ Statements About Bus Driver
A recent Illinois Appellate Court decision highlights the protections that courts recognize for statements by public employees about coworker’s misconduct. The case should reassure school district employees who in good faith report misconduct by other employees that their reports will not subject them or their school district to liability for defamation.
U.S. Supreme Court to Review Public Sector Employee's First Amendment Retaliation Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to address whether state and local government employees may sue their employers for retaliation under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment’s Petition Clause when they petitioned the government on matters of purely private concern. Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri, No. 09-1476 (U.S. Oct. 12, 2010). Under the Petition Clause, individuals have the right to present requests to the government without punishment or reprisal.
Pastor Terry Jones, Free Speech, and Employee Rights.
Employees’ rights to free speech seems to become a hot topic right around election time. During a very rare interview with Larry King last night, Supreme Court Justice Breyer discussed the importance of free speech. Larry, being the inquisitive interviewer that he is, asked Justice Breyer about Reverend Terry Jones’s highly controversial decision to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11.
Termination of Public Employee for Maintaining and Participating in Sexually Explicit Website Did Not Violate First Amendment (scroll down).
In Dible v. City of Chandler, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment for the City of Chandler, Arizona and its police department, and found that the discharge of police officer Ronald Dible for operating and participating in a sexually explicit website did not violate Dible's First Amendment free speech rights.
