Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Garcetti v. Ceballos that an employee’s speech pursuant to the employee’s official job duties was not protected by the First Amendment, employers have attempted to use that case as a shield against free speech lawsuits by employees.
But a decision by a federal court in Connecticut late
When people come up to me to talk about the blog, one of the things that often gets discussed is “How do you pick things to write about?” Often times, I tell them, it comes easily.
But a new Appellate Court decision, Johnson v. Board of Education — a decision that will be officially released
Haven’t we heard this before?
A Bourne, Massachusetts firefighter was recently fired for — imagine this — his Facebook posts in which he "allegedly railed against [a] police officer over some incident, angrily carried on about being forced to work on the Fourth of July holiday and made a homosexual slur", according to press reports
The Second Circuit ruled Friday that the University of Connecticut is entitled to "qualified immunity" on a School of Engineering Dean’s claim that he was demoted in violation of his First Amendment rights to free speech. The case has very important ramifications for public
employers on how they can deal with criticism from managerial-level employees.
Time once again to bring back an occasional feature that takes a look at stories that have now fallen from the local newspapers’ headlines. After all, have you ever noticed that it is somehow "big news" that a lawsuit is filed but you rarely hear about a lawsuit’s dismissal?
This installment updates the lawsuit that
Last year, I talked about a First Amendment retaliation case and noted the difficulties in defending against such claims. A new case out of the federal court in Connecticut last week highlights the those difficulties even further.
In Brown v. Waterbury Board of Ed. (download here), the Plaintiff, a custodian for the Waterbury
Earlier this year, the Second Circuit came out with an important, wide-ranging decision that clarified the protections that public employees have under the First Amendment. Specifically, any speech that is "pursuant to" an employee’s duties is not protected.
In a summary order last week arising out of Connecticut, the Second Circuit reinforced that fact. In
The Connecticut Law Tribune ran a story this week about the lawsuit being brought by a former Hartford Courant columnist, George Gombossy.
I’ve discussed the case before — it raises a claim that the columnist’s First Amendment rights were violated under a state law (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 31-51q) that purports to
UPDATED
George Gombossy, who penned a consumer-advocacy column for the Hartford Courant before being fired last month, has filed suit against the Courant (and its parent company, the Tribune Company) alleging that he was fired in retaliation for his lawful speech. 
Gombossy now has a website he calls "CT Watchdog" and posted the complain
The Connecticut Supreme Court, in a decision to be officially released next week, ruled Wednesday th.jpg)
at several state workers can proceed with their claims that they were fired for political reasons in January 2003.
The decision in Conboy v. State of Connecticut (download here), arises from the state’s decision in early 2003