[WEBINAR] Preparing for Changes in the “Vested Rights Doctrine” - Understanding Plan Design Options
[VIDEO] Legal Update: Is the California Rule in Flux?
[VIDEO] Pension Liability by the Numbers
[VIDEO] Perspectives: The Practical Effects of Today's Pension Programs
In 2006, the Supreme Court’s decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos granted public employers’ broad discretion in regulating their employees’ work-related speech. Before 2006, under the so-called Pickering Connick test, employees...more
Vallecorsa v. Allegheny Cty., No. 2:19-CV-1495-NR, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206720, at *2 (W.D. Pa. Nov. 15, 2022). United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania holds that Allegheny County (“County”) did...more
Technology. It is the proverbial blessing and curse that has resulted in an increasing amount of litigation in the courts. One such lawsuit presented the issue of whether the First Amendment provides police officers and their...more
Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 597 U.S. __ (2022) (The United States Supreme Court concludes that a coach praying at mid-field following a high school football game was engaged in private religious expression...more
Employers Should Reevaluate Policies on Religious Expression at Work in Light of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and Carson v. Makin - With the commencement of school, public youth programs and 2022-23 budget cycles,...more
The Supreme Court ruled in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District on June 27, 2022 that a public high school violated the Constitution by restricting a football coach from engaging in “personal” but overt post-game, mid-field...more
The Supreme Court addressed the intersection of the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Speech clauses as they relate to a public employee’s personal religious expression when done in the public eye. In a 6-to-3...more
Joseph Kennedy coached football at Bremerton High School, a public school in Washington State. After football games, Kennedy led prayers at the 50-yard line among players, coaches, fans, and, sometimes, politicians. The...more
On Monday June 27, the Supreme Court issued their ruling in the case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. (We previously reported on this case.) In a 6-3 decision penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the conservative majority...more
On June 27, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, No. 21-418, holding that a football coach’s quiet prayers of thanks after three football games were protected under the Free Exercise and...more
On April 25, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which we previously reported on. As you may recall, the case involves a high school football coach, Joseph Kennedy, who was...more
In 2019, we reported on the case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District involving a football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington state who was placed on administrative leave by his public school district for praying...more
Freedom of Speech. Most Americans seem to agree it is the most fundamental of rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights, and many are quick to cite their First Amendment protections whenever faced with unpleasant...more
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Bennett v. Metro. Gov’t of Nashville, recently addressed the issue of whether a public employee’s use of a racial slur when discussing politics on Facebook is sufficiently protected by...more
On August 19, 2020, in Marquardt v. Carlton, et al., No. 19-4223, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed summary judgment for the City of Cleveland on a former employee’s claim that the city had terminated...more
Carr v. PennDOT, 2020 WL 2532232 (Pa. 2020) (Pennsylvania Supreme Court sustains the termination of employment of a public employee for a social media post). Background - The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation...more
A recent federal appeals court decision, Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump, concluded that action taken by the President through the use of his personal, not just official White House, Twitter account was considered...more
The court concluded its opinion with an observation that at this time in history, “wide-open, robust debate” is the best assurance of good government. The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled last week that public...more
As technology and social media continue to develop, so do legal questions surrounding their use by public entities and employees. On July 9, 2019, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Knight First Amendment Institute v....more
Press and Journal, Inc. v. Borough of Middletown, Civil Action No. 1:18-CV-2064 (M.D. Pa. 2018) (Borough faces a civil rights claim for retaliation against newspaper for unfavorable press coverage). BACKGROUND - The...more
In this era of social media, it has become quite common for employees to post information online about their personal lives, their political views, and information related to their jobs. Social networks have increasingly...more
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the appeals court that has jurisdiction over federal cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the U. S. Virgin Islands, recently held that a public employer violates the First...more
A city employee’s comments at a public event were not protected under the First Amendment because she spoke as a public employee, not a private citizen, a federal appeals court held in Barone v. City of Springfield. However,...more
The business world has much more to learn from the Omarosa Manigault White House battle than just fashionable workplace attire and a flair for the dramatic. The battle between the White House and Omarosa over the scope of her...more
On August 15, 2018, the New York State Register published the Public Employment Relations Board’s (PERB) notice of emergency adoption and notice of proposed rulemaking. The emergency rule went into effect on July 27, 2018,...more