Administrative Judge Loses Free Speech Appeal Over TikTok Video

New York State Workers’ Compensation Board supervisors defeated an employee’s appeal over the revocation of a promotion in response to his public spat about face-masking, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday.

The supervisors established an affirmative defense to the administrative law judge’s free-speech retaliation claims by showing it was his conduct, not his speech, that caused them to backtrack on his promotion, the court said. That conduct was captured on a TikTok video and showed the judge arguing with a New Jersey Transit employee about covering his nose and mouth while on a train, the unpublished opinion said.

• A government employer ...