After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Garcetti several years ago, there was a lot of chatter about whether public employees still had substantive First Amendment free speech rights.
And for a short while, the trend did seem to indicate that speech that related to an employee’s “official job duties” was to be construed
In a closely watched case, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that a “Like” on Facebook is a form of speech that is protected under the First Amendment.
In doing so, it kept alive a lawsuit brought by an employee who claims he was fired for supporting an political candidate who was running
In last week’s post about an important new free speech case from the Connecticut Superior Court, I highlighted one aspect of the court’s ruling.
Today’s post addresses another aspect — though this may have more significance to practitioners in the area than anything else.
Connecticut’s free speech statute, Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 31-51q, contains
Does the Connecticut Constitution provide an independent and greater right of free speech for public (and even private) employees than the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitition?
That was a question left unanswered in last year’s precedent-setting Schumann decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court that I handled, where the court stated: “We decline to reach
On Friday, the Second Circuit issued an important decision in the long-running battle between the state unions and the government about whether layoffs of only union personnel violated the First Amendment.
I’ve previously discussed the background of this case (and my very early involvement in it) in various posts.
The Second Circuit not only reversed
The Connecticut Law Tribune’s quarterly supplement on Labor & Employment Law was published this week and as usual, it is chock full of articles of relevance to attorneys and employers.
Many of the topics have been covered here in the blog, but the additional analysis and discussion on the topics make them useful. You can
A while back, the NLRB proposed that all employers would need to put up posters detailing employee rights to form a union. If employers did not, then the employers could be subjected to an unfair labor practice charge — a serious charge.
Implementation of that rule was delayed pending court challenges.
This morning, the
Since the publication of my post last week on House Bill 6667 on free speech in the workplace, there’s been a lot of followup press coverage. Two that I would highlight include this Patch.com article, and this blog post by Mara Lee at the Hartford Courant.
The CBIA also highlighted the post on
Employers: If there is one proposed bill at the Connecticut General Assembly to be concerned about this year, it is the stealth House Bill 6667. It could have the single biggest impact on employer/employee relations in a generation.
And that’s just for starters.
If you look at the bill on the legislative website, it looks innocuous enough. It didn’t go through the normal channels, like the Labor & Public Employee committee, and thus has been off most people’s radar screens. There hasn’t even been an analysis done by the Office of Legislative Research. Most of the bill actually discusses something entirely different.
That’s a ploy.
Buried in the very last section in the very last sentence is the proverbial trojan horse, one that would change the workplace in significant ways. This section would overturn a vital Connecticut Supreme Court case (indeed, one that I was on the winning side of) that said that employee speech that relates to the job is not protected as “free speech” under the Connecticut or U.S. Constitution. Notably, it would also overturn U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Connecticut as well.
It is crucial for employers to call their legislators immediately to make sure this bill does not pass. Time is of the essence. If you need to look up your legislator, you can find all the contact information on the CBIA website here.
Continue Reading Proposed Bill Would Create Chaos for Employers and Constituionalize Common Workplace Grievances
Everyone ok out there?
What a wild couple of days we’ve had in Connecticut and, for those still without power, it’s not over yet. Much like Irene and the October snowstorm before it, Sandy has left her mark.
But it’s time to get back to business