Thursday, July 25, 2024

Okonowsky v. Garland (9th Cir. - July 25, 2024)

Free speech and the workplace intersect in complicated ways. Outside the workplace, you can say pretty much anything (with few exceptions) about anyone. Insider the workplace, by contrast, you're limited -- both practically and doctrinally -- in what you're categorically permitted to say without potentially adverse consequences.

But those spaces intersect. Many of the people you interact with on a daily basis are those you meet at work. What can you say about them in your private sphere; e.g., on Instagram?

It's a toughie. As this Ninth Circuit opinion amply demonstrates.

Here, the Ninth Circuit holds that it's potentially a Title VII violation (hostile work environment) for one co-worker to make various derogatory posts on his Instagram page about another co-worker. Read more from Judge Wardlaw if you wish.

I'm just now returning from a family vacation, so don't have much to say about the opinion other than it, at a minimum, demonstrates a practical reality:

Be careful what you publicly say about your co-workers. Your freedom in that sphere is not nearly as expansive as what you're able to say about, say, presidential candidates.