33 results for 'cat:"Constitution" AND cat:"Employment"'.
J. Rabner finds that the appellate division improperly rejected an employee's constitutional challenge in claims contending she had been prohibited from talking about an internal sexual harassment complaint she filed against a supervisor because a duration had not been imposed upon the request that witnesses and involved parties refrain from discussing the case, and the request concerned a large swath of protected speech. Reversed.
Court: New Jersey Supreme Court, Judge: Rabner , Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: A-40-22, Categories: constitution, employment Discrimination
J. Webb answers the federal district court's certified question regarding Arkansas code addressing employee firearm possession on an employer's property. The Union Pacific employee's truck caught fire, revealing he had a gun inside, against Union Pacific's rules. Though the gun was properly locked and out of plain view, in compliance with the law, the employee was suspended for the company violation. Arkansas changed its law regarding weapons concealment and asked Union Pacific for clarification of its position in light of the change. The Arkansas code is not dependent on liability immunity provisions. If the employer immunity provision is preempted by the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, the Arkansas Code is not likewise preempted.
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court, Judge: Webb , Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: CV-23-653, Categories: constitution, employment, Firearms
J. Van Tatenhove dismisses a police officer's federal claims contending his right to freely associate and travel had been violated when the department continued to circulate press releases stating he had attended the deadly January 6 rally that sought to overthrow the election for Donald Trump by attacking the capital, even though he claims he had only been in D.C. at that time to enjoy a site-seeing trip with his family. The officer's right to travel had not been infringed since he had not been punished for going to D.C. with his family, and his right to associate with his wife had not become the issue when she posted pictures of herself near the rally; instead, he had been investigated and transferred based on his own presence in the country's capital, and nothing in the claim contends he had been transferred due to his marital relationship. Due process claims concerning loss of protected property fail because the officer "merely alleges that he was transferred from a supervisory position to a position without supervisory responsibilities—not that he was removed, suspended, or reduced in grade or pay." The decision did not deprive him of a property interest, and he was not entitled to a hearing.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Kentucky, Judge: Van Tatenhove, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv11, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: constitution, employment, employment Retaliation
J. Meerveld grants a request by a chemical plant, dismissing complaints of First Amendment violations by a self-represented former employee of American Indian descent. The company is a government contractor but not a “government actor” and, therefore, his First Amendment claim fails. Further, he has failed to allege facts sufficient to support a Title VII claim for a hostile work environment based on race, racial discrimination or retaliation, or for disability discrimination related to an alleged brain injury.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Van Meerveld, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv23, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: constitution, Ada / Rehabilitation Act, employment Discrimination
J. Duffin partially grants the city and city officials' motion to dismiss the former city planning and development director's lawsuit alleging the officials conspired to force him out of his job for political reasons based on false accusations involving an incident in which he repeated a racial slur a citizen had previously said during a public meeting. In part because the director has sufficiently pleaded that he was labeled as a racist and targeted for retaliation because he is a heterosexual white male and the officials were intent on "boosting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging programs," his hostile work environment, disparate treatment and equal protection claims against the city and the officials will proceed, except for equal protection claims against two officials. The director's First Amendment prior restraint claim against the city survives, but the same claim against the individual officials is dismissed. His First Amendment retaliation claim is dismissed in its entirety, as are all of his official capacity claims against the individual officials.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1048, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: constitution, employment Discrimination
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J. Gonzalez tosses an employment discrimination lawsuit that alleges a property manager wrongfully terminated a janitor due to an unspecified disability. His Americans with Disabilities Act claims are untimely, and his Eighth Amendment claim for what he calls “cruel and inhumane employee punishment” also fails because such claims apply only against state actors, not private parties. He also fails to allege his union breached its duty of fair representation under the Labor Relations Management Act when it denied his grievance regarding his wages.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Gonzalez, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv385, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: constitution, employment Discrimination, Labor / Unions
J. Seeger partially grants Cook County’s motion to dismiss constitutional and state law violations claims brought by a former photographer for the county medical examiner’s office. The ex-photographer claims he was fired in retaliation for complaining about his working conditions and how the office spent its budget; he says the office used his positive drug test result for cannabis as pretext to fire him. He brought First and Fourth Amendment violations claims as well as a number of state law claims. The court allows the Fourth Amendment claim to stand, and the First Amendment claim stands only regarding his formal complaint to OSHA about his working conditions. His retaliation claim under state law also survives dismissal, but the court tosses his state wage law violation claim and his claim for due process violations.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Seeger, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv5571, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: constitution, employment, employment Retaliation
J. Broniec finds that the lower court improperly found for the state on the city's constitutional challenge to a bill known as the "Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights" that adds procedures for imposing discipline on police officers. The city adequately pleaded that the law creates an unfunded mandate by increasing the city's costs by requiring it to perform increased levels of activities without providing corresponding appropriations to fund the new requirements. However, the city's other challenges are dismissed, as the state showed a rational basis to treat law enforcement officers differently from other city employees. Reversed in part.
Court: Missouri Supreme Court, Judge: Broniec, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: SC99876, Categories: constitution, employment
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court improperly denied a cancer center's motion to dismiss. The employee does not dispute the cancer center is entitled to sovereign immunity from her age discrimination suit, being it is managed by the public University of Texas. But she supports her assertion it has waived immunity with reference to sex discrimination law, not constitutional age discrimination law. Also, the center's acceptance of federal funding does not waive immunity from discrimination suits. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 23-20423, Categories: constitution, Health Care, employment Discrimination
J. Murguia orders that a three-judge panel opinion be vacated and that a matter can be reheard. The matter stems from multiple plaintiffs' lawsuit to "defend their fundamental liberty to pursue their chosen work as independent service providers." Plaintiffs alleged that California Assembly Bill 5, a 2020 enacted statute, violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Ninth Amendment, and the Contracts Clause of Article I of the US Constitution.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Murguia, Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: 21-55757, Categories: constitution, employment
J. Meyer denies, in part, the board of education's motion to dismiss, ruling that while the bulk of the teacher's complaint deals with the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine, her claim she was unable to express her religious beliefs because of the board's vaccine or test order during the pandemic is sufficient to state a plausible religious discrimination claim. However, because the board was required to implement the policy in response to the governor's mandates regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, the teacher's constitutional claims fail.
Court: USDC Connecticut, Judge: Meyer, Filed On: September 20, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv1459, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: constitution, Covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. Torbitzky finds that the commission improperly affirmed the police department's decision to fire the police officer. The department improperly forced the officer to choose between his employment and his Fifth Amendment rights by retaliating against him for refusing to answer questions about another officer's alleged sexual encounter with a 12-year-old girl in a patrol car. The officer was given immunity for statements made to the department's internal investigator, but understood that there was no such immunity for statements made to the criminal investigator. Reversed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Torbitzky, Filed On: September 5, 2023, Case #: ED111086, Categories: Civil Rights, constitution, employment Retaliation
J. Lynch finds that the district court properly found for university hiring personnel in first amendment retaliation claims contending an adjunct professor had been passed over for promotion for embracing Keynesian economics because precedent holds that a public university's interest in prioritizing skills and academic perspectives outweighs an individual's academic free speech. Affirmed.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Lynch, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 22-1135-cv, Categories: constitution, Education, employment
J. Flanagan grants a county its motion to dismiss allegations of due process violations brought by a former library director after the county fired her unexpectedly. The director had an argument with a volunteer, and the volunteer met with the assistant county manager. The next day, he fired the director without explanation beyond “unsatisfactory job performance.” Because a reasonable person would not know that the director’s property rights under due process include her employment, her argument is not sufficient to overcome the manager’s protection under qualified immunity.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Flanagan, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv130, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, constitution, employment
J. Solomon finds that the appellate division improperly ruled against a Catholic school accused of firing an art teacher and toddler room caregiver for getting pregnant while unmarried because the school was following church prohibitions on premarital sex, which is protected under an exception in state employment law, even if other employees had not been surveyed for transgressions against the faith.
Court: New Jersey Supreme Court, Judge: Solomon , Filed On: August 14, 2023, Case #: A-63-20, Categories: constitution, employment
J. Kelly finds a lower court properly dismissed a police officer's whistleblower claims against a City. The police officer argued that the City fired him for exercising his free speech rights. However, the City terminated him for deleting video footage from his phone at the request of another officer, who clobbered a civilian passenger with a flashlight in a car with a driver who led them on a high- speed chase, in violation of the department's digital recording policy. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Kelly, Filed On: August 14, 2023, Case #: 22-2533, Categories: constitution, employment, Whistleblowers
J. White denies the competing motions for summary judgment in this lawsuit alleging that the former public employee's free speech rights were violated in connection with his termination. The employer argues that he reasonably believed the perceived speech to be "a matter of private, not public, concern." However, this characterization of the perceived speech is not reasonable, as there was not "an objectively reasonable investigation." Accordingly, the employer is "not entitled to judgment as a matter of law." The employee's official capacity claim will also proceed to the jury.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Oklahoma, Judge: White, Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 6:20cv67, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, constitution, employment
J. O'Hearn denies emergency injunctive relief in claims contending the temporary workers' bill of rights unfairly requires companies hiring temp workers and staffing agencies to provide burdensome disclosures and mandates certain compensation and benefits. The companies established they would be negatively affected by the new law but failed to establish that any new burden would be substantial or that the new law is unconstitutionally vague.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: O'Hearn , Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv2494, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: constitution, employment
J. Jackson-Akiwumi affirms a district court ruling dismissing a former police officer’s First Amendment suit against the police chief of a Wisconsin police department for allegedly retaliating against him for critiquing the chief’s leadership. The ex-cop’s remarks were made in his capacity as a public employee, not a private citizen. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 22-1467 , Categories: Civil Rights, constitution, employment Retaliation
J. Polster denies the faculty and leadership members' motion to dismiss the professor's claims that they initiated an investigation against the professor in retaliation for publishing his article, and that they further violated his First Amendment rights by firing him. The professor sufficiently alleges his First Amendment retaliation claim because although his speech relates to an academic scholarship and he was a state employee at the time, he retained his right to speak and write as a private citizen. Also, the professor plausibly alleges that the faculty and leadership members fired him not because he used unethical and unsound research techniques, but because of his viewpoint.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Polster, Filed On: July 14, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv546, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: constitution, employment, First Amendment
J. Pepper finds in favor of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and federal government in a lawsuit from a former employee of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management bringing multiple constitutional, criminal and common law claims alleging discrimination and harassment he faced at work. The employee's motion to consolidate this case with another related lawsuit in the same district, one of at least half a dozen pending federal cases he has filed making similar allegations, is denied as unjustified, as is his motion to transfer this case to the Western District of Texas. The employee's motion for an extension of time to respond to the government and secretary's motion to dismiss is partially granted, and he is given until September 15, 2023, to file an amended opposition to the motion to dismiss or notify the court that it can accept the first 30 pages of his February 23, 2023, opposition filing instead.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: July 11, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv721, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, constitution, employment Discrimination
J. Nelson finds that the district court improperly denied a Department of the Interior motion to dismiss an action alleging due process violations brought by a former Bureau of Land Management Law (BLM) Enforcement Ranger in Idaho. The ranger challenged adverse employment actions taken against him by the Department of the Interior and BLM officials. He sued defendants alleging a violation of his Fifth Amendment right to due process. The ranger had no claim for money damages and his claims arose in a different context than what the Court has recognized. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Nelson, Filed On: June 26, 2023, Case #: 22-35036, Categories: constitution, employment