County Employee Demoted for Testifying Loses Free Speech Case

The First Amendment rights of a county employee weren’t violated when he was demoted for testifying as a character witness on behalf of his sister-in-law in a child custody dispute with another county employee, the Tenth Circuit ruled March 29.

There is no per se rule that truthful testimony by public employees is protected speech, the opinion by Judge David M. Ebel said.

There is, however, a circuit split on the issue. The Third and Fifth circuits say any truthful sworn testimony given by a government employee is always on a matter of public concern, while the Fourth, Seventh, Eighth, ...