Abdur-Rahman v. Walker
567 F.3d 1278 (11th Cir. 2009)
Two compliance inspectors were fired from their jobs at the Department of Public Works in DeKalb County, Georgia. These employees filed a complaint against their supervisors, arguing that the termintation violated the whistleblower provision of the Clean Air Act, 33 U.S.C. §1367(a) and violated the First Amendment. The Court affirmed the lower court’s judgment in favor of the supervisors, holding that 42 U.S.C. §1983, under which the inspector’s brought their complaint, does not provide for a private right of action in cases where another statute provided an appropriate remedy, here, the Clean Water Act. Further, the court rejected the inspectors’ First Amendment argument finding each spoke as government officers when they discussed sewer overflow with their supervisors, and they were not speaking as private citizens on a matter of public concern. The court held that a citizen must accept some limitations on his or her freedom of speech upon entering
government service.