Legal Question in Employment Law in Indiana

wrongful termination

I was terminated after 15 years of outstanding service to the indiana dept of corrections because of comments i made on a personal myspace account. the comments were meant to be motivational for the swat unit that i was head of and the state obtained a copy of my home page and fired me on the basis that they consider me a security threat, the comments were not threatening to anyone again they were just motivational. The people in charge also failed to follow up on a affirmative action complaint i filed and have allowed staff to threaten eachother with murder and have not terminated those individuals, they have allowed staff to solicite prostitutes, had staff found guuilty of indecent exposure and have not fired theses people, but because of their personal hatred towards me, they fired me for this, it has no bearing on my job performance, infact, one week prior to my firing, i was given a 250.00 bonus for service above and beyond the call of duty, i was named one of the 40 top employees of the state by being chosen to attend the emerging leaders of indiana symposium, and have received two medals of outstanding service. My rights to free speech have been violated and i was fired for something so trivial, no free speech?


Asked on 6/28/08, 4:10 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Kenneth Lauter Kenneth E. Lauter, PC

Re: wrongful termination

Have you filed a SEAC complaint? I recommend you go through that process before pursuing a First Amendment claim. I agree that your firing does not sound fair. Can you give me a link to the offending web site? You can contact me at [email protected], or at the telephone number in my profile.

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Answered on 6/30/08, 8:29 am
Andrew Dutkanych Biesecker & Dutkanych

Re: wrongful termination

You may have several avenues of relief availble to you. You can pursue the matter through SEAC, the EEOC (if there was a race bias or retaliation element) and under the First Amendment as you mentioned. However, the First Amendment claim would depend on what was said and how closely it was related to your work. You should contact an attorney to more fully discuss the next steps you need to take to protect your rights. If you wish, I can be reached at [email protected] or the telephone number in my profile.

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Answered on 6/28/08, 8:03 pm


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