Dive Brief:
- In a 6-2 decision this week, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision over a worker who was demoted over a misperception about his political leanings, according to SHRM. The ruling bolsters constitutional protection to public employees’ political expression, according to media reports.
- The plaintiff, Jeffrey Heffernan, a police officer in Patterson, N.J., said his demotion from detective to patrol officer occurred after his managers erroneously believed he was supporting a candidate for mayor that the police chief opposed. Specifically, Heffernan was seen carrying a yard sign for the candidate, though it actually belonged to Heffernan's mother. He didn't support the candidate. Heffernan sued, claiming that his First Amendment right to free speech had been violated. The lower courts ruled against Heffernan, but the Supreme Court disagreed and overturned the lower court decision.
- Tamara Devitt, an attorney with Haynes and Boone in Orange County, Calif., told SHRM that decision serves as a reminder to public employers that they should not take action against employees for supporting a candidate, whether perceived or actual.
Dive Insight
“When an employer demotes an employee out of a desire to prevent the employee from engaging in political activity that the First Amendment protects, the employee is entitled to challenge that unlawful action under the First Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1983—even if, as here, the employer makes a factual mistake about the employee’s behavior,” the court said in an opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer.
Regarding the First Amendment's right to free speech, the court ruled that the supervisor’s motive should have been the primary focus, along with "the facts as the employer reasonably understood them, rather than on the employee’s actual activity." Additionally, the constitutional harm is the same whether the employer’s action is based upon a factual mistake or if the employer was correct in its assumption, the court ruled.
