August 7, 2012
By Jim Cline
In a precedent setting case, Alaska has become one of the first states to formally recognize the legal privilege between a union and its members. In Peterson v. State of Alaska (2012), the Alaska Supreme Court has held that the communications between a represented employee and his union were privileged and inadmissible in court.
Filed Under: Collective Bargaining Rights
August 1, 2012
By Mitchell Riese
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently clarified the rights that public employees have to not be retaliated against by a supervisor for testifying in a deposition in the context of a civil rights lawsuit. In the case of Karl v. City of Mountlake Terrace, Martha Karl filed suit against the City of Mountlake Terrace and Assistant Chief of Police Pete Caw. Karl was the Confidential Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Police. In 2008, she was subpoenaed to give deposition testimony in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by former department Sgt.
