[IP] Whistler Blowers Beware

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: malin@cs.cmu.edu
Date: May 31, 2006 9:13:38 AM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Whistler Blowers Beware

Dave - it's official.  Supreme Court decided that public employees tha
become whistleblowers are not protected.  However, there were some
interesting comments made by the majority.

-brad

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/washington/31scotus.html? 
_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=login

A Supreme Court Setback for Whistle-Blowers

by LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: May 31, 2006

WASHINGTON, May 30 — The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the
Constitution does not protect public employees against retaliation by
their supervisors for anything they say in the course of performing  
their
assigned duties.

While the court's focus in the 5-to-4 decision was on disputes that  
remain
within the workplace, the decision raised questions about the extent to
which whistle-blowers who make their complaints public might now face a
greater danger of retaliation.

Although several employee groups raised immediate alarms, Justice  
Anthony
M. Kennedy's majority opinion in fact contained the counterintuitive
implication that employees might fare better by speaking out as  
"citizens"
and taking their complaints to the public rather than keeping them  
within
the official chain of command.

<snip>



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