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Barring a former employee from property

Barring a former employee from property
Toussaint v Local 100, TWU, CA2, U.S. App. LEXIS 16257

May an employer prohibit an individual it has dismissed from entering its property? The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the employer may prohibit such an individual from entering its non-public areas.

Transportation Workers Union representative Roger Toussaint had been dismissed from his position with the New York City Transit Authority [NYCTA]. NYCTA then banned Toussaint from the non-public areas of its property. Toussaint sued, contending that this action by NYCTA violated his First Amendment rights.

The Circuit Court affirmed a federal district court's dismissal of his petition. The lower court had determined that Toussaint "failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits" because:

1. He did not demonstrate that he was excluded from non-public areas because the Transit Authority's motivation was to impair the exercise of his First Amendment freedoms or;

2. The Transit Authority's rule barring discharged employees from non-public areas lacked a reasonable basis.

Toussaint also attempted to obtain a stay of arbitration, claiming that NYCTA and Local 100 went forward with his arbitration "without allowing him to participate in selecting a neutral arbitrator to chair the arbitration panel." The Circuit Court of Appeals rejected this representation as moot "because the arbitration has proceeded to conclusion."

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on June 18, 2008 (boomark / email).