What is Actionable Retaliation Against a Public Employee for Exercising First Amendment Rights?

On Tuesday, November 17, 2009, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals—the federal appellate court having jurisdiciton over Utah—determined that the correct standard to be assessed on retaliation claims arising under the First Amendment is whether the alleged retaliatory actions are actions that “would deter a reasonable person from exercising his . . . First Amendment […]

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Road Workers Not Discriminated Against Because of Political Affiliation

In Trujillo v. Huerfano County Board, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals—the federal court having jurisdiction over Utah—ruled that two former road supervisors who had publicly supported a Democratic candidate for county commissioner had not been discriminated against when they were disciplined by a new Road Supervisor who had been installed shortly after the Republican […]

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Can Non-Union Employees Be Forced by Statute to Pay Service Fees to a Union that Pays for a Union’s National Litigation?

In some circumstances, the law requires employees who refuse to join unions to pay service fees to the unions that represent their local collective bargaining unit. As one would guess, these laws often upset non-union employees who believe that their First Amendment rights of association and speech are being infringed. Consequently, there has been a […]

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Do Governmental Employees Have the Right to Comment on their Belief that the Agency by which they are Employed is Acting Outside its Authority?

The federal appellate court having jurisdiction over federal questions arising in Utah, the Tenth Circuit, issued a decision on January 8, 2009, explaining that an employee’s concern over the scope of an investigation was a matter of public concern. The court in Dixon v. Kirkpatrick held that, although an employee had raised an issue of […]

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