Justices Unanimously Back Public Employee Whistleblower
Friday, June 20, 2014(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
In a win for
unions,
public workers and whistleblowers, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 19
unanimously
backed an Alabama whistleblower whom his boss illegally fired for testifying
about fraud to a grand jury and a trial jury.
The 9-0 ruling cheered
the
National Education Association (NEA), whose Alabama affiliate – the largest
and
most-influential union in the state – provided the attorneys for
whistleblower
Edward Lane in lower court arguments.
Lane was fired after testifying
before a
grand jury and later at trials of a state legislator who got a no-show job at a
program run by the community college Lane worked for.
NEA President
Dennis Van
Roekel cheered the court’s ruling, but said the justices should have extended
it to every instance where a public worker speaks out. “The Supreme Court
took
an important step in ensuring the free speech rights of public employees by
concluding Lane’s testimony was speech as a citizen on a matter of public
concern,” Van Roekel said. While “we are
pleased the court recognized public employees are indeed protected by the
1st
Amendment when they testify…we are disappointed the court did not go further
to
establish a clear rule that sworn testimony by public employees should never be
the basis for any retaliatory action by a public employer. The decision
was too narrow. Public employees who have the courage to
stand up and speak out to improve public services and prevent corruption should
be protected from retaliation.” Read
more here.
- Mark Gruenberg, PAI Staff
Writer