Section 3 Freedom of Speech

• Library: Employer-Employee Law 2008

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment—see, e.g., Cantwell v. State of Conn., 310 U.S. 296 (1940)—and Missouri Constitution article I, § 8, protect a public employee’s freedom of speech. Both federal and state decisions concerning the right of free speech primarily apply federal constitutional principles.

When a public employee alleges that a public employer has penalized the public employee’s speech, the first issue is whether the...