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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Just as the right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking are complementary components of a broader concept of an employee’s freedom of mind, so too is the employee’s freedom to choose his own creed the counterpart of his right to refrain from accepting the creed established by his employer. Therefore, in the present case, whether the flag is exposed to the public is not determinative. The forced association with the flag violates the plaintiffs right not to associate with the speech of others, in this case his employer. The right to proselytize an ideology guarantees the concomitant right to decline to foster such concepts. Board of Education v. Barnette, supra, 319 U.S. 633-34 (right to refuse to salute flag at school protected by first amendment). Requiring an employee to maintain a flag at his workstation, regardless of whether that message is conveyed to the public at large, forces the employee to be an instrument for fostering adherence to an ideological point of view that he may find unacceptable.

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