Section 31-51q

Citation: Section 31-51q
Parent Document: Cotto v. United Technologies Corp., 251 Conn. 1 (1999)
Jurisdiction: Connecticut (state)
Effective Date: 1999-10-12
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7898264/cotto-v-united-technologies-corp/ ↗

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I begin with the language of the statute. The core of the protection under § 31-51q is “the exercise by such employee of rights guaranteed by the first amendment to the United States Constitution or section 3, 4 or 14 of article first of the Constitution of the state . . . .” The first amendment of the United States constitution, *27stated generally, guarantees freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the rights of peaceable assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. It is axiomatic that the first amendment, which applies to the states through the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment, guarantees those freedoms and rights only against governmental, and not private, action. Rendell-Baker v. Kohn, 457 U.S. 830, 837-38, 102 S. Ct. 2764, 73 L. Ed. 2d 418 (1982). Freedom of speech “traditionally has content only in relation to state action — the state must be neutral as to all expression, and must not unreasonably restrain speech or expression. The right is to be free of state regulation . . . .” (Emphasis in original.) Redgrave v. Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc., supra, 855 F.2d 904. A necessary corollary of that fundamental constitutional principle is that the first amendment does not guarantee the conduct contemplated by those freedoms and rights where that conduct takes place on private property and is not restricted or coerced by state action in any way. Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner, 407 U.S. 551, 567, 92 S. Ct. 2219, 33 L. Ed. 2d 131 (1972); Cologne v. Westfarms Associates, 192 Conn. 48, 56-57, 469 A.2d 1201 (1984). It is also well established that §§ 3, 4 and 14, of article first of the state constitution, which, stated generally, guarantee freedom of religion, speech and the press, and the rights of peaceful assembly and to petition the government for redress of grievances, guarantee those freedoms and rights only against governmental, and not private, action. Cologne v. Westfarms Associates, supra, 61-63.

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