News Notes: Ninth Circuit Issues Pair Of Free Speech Rulings

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a public employee whose First Amendment rights are violated can sue even if the employee wasn’t terminated or disciplined—if an adverse employment action was taken that was reasonably likely to deter the employee from engaging in constitutionally protected speech. But in another case, the same court gave public employers more leeway to discipline employees for potentially disruptive speech. In this case, the city of North Las Vegas suspended the chief fire marshal for making unfounded remarks about the city manager’s allegedly discriminatory practices and dealings with the union. In upholding the suspension, the court balanced several factors, including the employee’s high rank, the city’s need to protect its relationship with the union, the reputation of city officials, and its opinion that “untruthful information about government is not helpful to the public.”