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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Consider another example. Assume that aprivate employee, whose workstation is an isolated cubicle, displays in his cubicle in such a way that only he can see it, a swastika, or perhaps a bumper sticker favoring a Ku Klux Klan candidate for public office. Assume further that it does not interfere *33with his job performance, and that for all practical purposes he works alone, so that there is no viable claim that the display will interfere with his relationship with his employer. Nonetheless, his employer demands that he remove it, solely because the employer does not want that kind of expression anywhere on his property, and when the employee refuses, the employer discharges him. Applying the statute as the majority in the present case would have us do could require us to force the employer to have his property bear an expression that he does not want, thereby favoring the employee’s right of expression over that of the employer. At the least, this would raise serious constitutional concerns, and at the most, it would be a clear violation of the employer’s right of expression. See Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705, 717, 97 S. Ct. 1428, 51 L. Ed. 2d 752 (1977).

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