Case: Individual Employment Rights/First Amendment (Ariz. Ct. App.)

The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that a superior court erred in affirming a Phoenix civil service board’s decision regarding the discipline of a now retired Phoenix police sergeant, which was made without considering her argument that a sanction against her for a private Facebook post that allegedly violated the Phoenix police department’s social media policy violated her First Amendment rights. The appeals court held, as a matter of first impression, that the unique language of the Phoenix City Charter requires the civil service board to consider the sergeant’s argument and evidence that a disciplinary action against her didn’t “give ...