Broadly speaking, civil rights claims include those that provide protection because of a part of the United States Constitution or a state or federal statute.
Examples include the right of free speech, the right to exercise one’s religion and the right of free assembly under the First Amendment. Under the Fourth Amendment individuals have a right to be free from excessive force and unlawful searches by law enforcement officers. The Fifth Amendment provides rights against a governmental taking of property. The Fourteenth Amendment extends protection of Due Process rights to some individuals.
First Amendment – Speech.
Federal statutes protect a whistleblower who reports about particular subjects. For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act protects whistleblowers who report financial or accounting violations. There are numerous other statutes that provide similar protections for different subject matters
An employee might have a claim for retaliatory discharge if the employee utters speech on a matter of public concern and is outside of the employee’s ordinary duties. The claim is strengthened when the speech is made under oath in a judicial proceeding
In Kansas, the common law provides protection to whistleblowers who report about violations of specific laws. A separate statute protects state employees’ whistleblowing.
In Missouri, a statute protects whistleblowers under a wide variety of circumstances.
First Amendment – Religion.
In addition to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an employee can sometimes have an action based on the Free Exercise Clause if an employer’s action against the employee deprives the employee of the practice of the employee’s religion.
Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
This federal statute is available only to federal employees. The statute requires that the agency implement the least restrictive alternative that would apply to an employee who has stated an objection based on the employee’s religious practices.
First Amendment Right of Free Speech – Non-employment.
This claim can arise when a governmental agency impairs the speech of an individual based on the content of the speech. This can include symbolic speech. This right is considered to be a fundamental right. Courts will subject the governmental actor to the highest standard of scrutiny.
First Amendment Right of Free Exercise of Religion – Non-employment.
A religious practitioner whose conduct is treated differently from other individuals who engage in the same conduct might have a claim based on this Clause of the First Amendment. Under current law, religious practitioners have an Equal Protection right to be treated in a similar manner to non-religious practitioners.
First Amendment Right of Assembly – Non-employment.
This Clause of the First Amendment grants a right for groups of individuals to assemble, to associate with like-minded individuals or to assemble for the purpose of exercising another right, for example, free speech. A governmental actor who bars any of that activity risks being sued on the basis of the Right of Assembly.
Fourth Amendment – False Arrest.
An individual who is arrested by a law enforcement officer without probable cause might have a claim against the officer based on this right.
Fourth Amendment – Excessive Force.
When law enforcement officers use excessive force, as defined by case precedent, the individual who suffers the excessive force might have a claim against the officers based on this right.
Fourteenth Amendment – Due Process.
Employees of a governmental agency, who have certain rights in the workplace, including those rights that pertain to any action that demotes, transfers or discharges an employee, have the right to enforce those procedural workplace protections when the employee is deprived of them.
Fourteenth Amendment – Reputational Damage.
This right gives a governmental employee recourse against the employing agency for publishing false and defamatory information about the employee. Under this right, publication is defined more broadly than simply publication through the mass media. The employee must show that the information had an adverse impact on future employment prospects.
Fourteenth Amendment – Equal Protection.
When a statute or regulation treats an individual or group differently based on sex, race, disability, age or national origin, the individual or group might have a claim to invalidate the law based on the Equal Protection Clause.