Barring a former employee from property

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Barringa former employee from property
Toussaint v Local 100, TWU, CA2, U.S. App. LEXIS16257

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

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

The Circuit Court affirmed a federal district court's dismissal of the Unionrepresentative’s petition. The lower court had determined that he "failedto show a likelihood of success on the merits" because:

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

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

The representative also attempted to obtain a stay of arbitration, claimingthat NYCTA and Local 100 went forward with his arbitration "withoutallowing him to participate in selecting a neutral arbitrator to chair thearbitration panel." The Circuit Court of Appeals rejected thisrepresentation as moot "because the arbitration [had] proceeded toconclusion."