Volcanic Tremors in the Third Circuit: First Amendment Freedom of Speech Protections through Common Law Authority.

The authority of the First Amendment may transcend the strictures of its original wording, which limits it to proscriptions of federal government suppression of speech. Attempts by some courts to extend First Amendment authority to the workplace is clearly related to the growing criticism of unrestrained managerial dismissal power. The first major attempt was the incorporation of freedom of speech and press rights under the authority of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which is limited to protection against the actions of government. The 1983 case "Novosel v. Nationwide Insurance" attempted to bring the First Amendment freedom of speech protections to the private sector workplace using the common law. The United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employee could sue his or her employer using a tort of wrongful discharge if the dismissal violated public policy as derived from the First Amendment or Article I, Section 7 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. The authority to apply First Amendment freedom of speech protections remains unsettled, though the Fourteenth Amendment trend has brought tremendous change. (The "Novosel case" is discussed in depth.) (JD)