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/ ↗

Full Text

1,559 chars

*36In Waters, however, unlike Connick, there was not even a maj ority of the court to answer to that question. A plurality of the court, which included Justice O’Connor, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist, and Justices Souter and Ginsburg, concluded that the test is what the employer thought was said, but only if the employer undertook an investigation and that investigation is determined later by the judicial fact finder — court or jury — to have been reasonable. Id., 677. Justice Souter, in a separate concurrence, added the proviso that “in order to avoid liability, the public employer must not only reasonably investigate [a] third-party report, but must also actually believe it.” Id., 682-83. Thus, in Justice Souter’s view, a “public employer violates the Free Speech Clause, that is, by invoking a third-party report to penalize an employee when the employer, despite the report and the reasonable investigation into it, believes or genuinely suspects that the employee’s speech was protected in its entirety or in that part on which the employer purports to rely in taking disciplinary action; or if the employer invokes the third-party report merely as a pretext to shield disciplinary action taken because of protected speech the employer believes or genuinely suspects that the employee uttered at another time.” Id., 683. In another concurring opinion, Justice Scalia, joined by Justices Kennedy and Thomas, concurred in the judgment, but disagreed with the requirement of a reasonable investigation that the plurality had imposed. Id., 686.

Other Sections in This Document (143)

Full Text