Case: Individual Employment Rights/Retaliation (E.D. Ark.)

An Arkansas federal district court granted summary judgment to the city of Conway and its fire chief on the claims of a firefighter and former union activist alleging First Amendment retaliation because he wasn’t promoted to battalion chief. The court concluded that there was no evidence that the chief’s decision to promote another candidate was influenced by the firefighter’s participation in the union or a separate lawsuit against the city. Complaints that the chief received about him from his subordinates—that he cursed at and made belittling statements to them—were a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason not to promote him, the court said. ...