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.
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Mark Gruenberg, PAI Staff Writer