Christy Crockett White Authors “Investigating Disruptive Free Speech in the Workplace” for The Quarterly: A Publication of the Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association

Christy Crockett White, partner in the Jackson office and member of the Litigation Practice, recently wrote “Investigating Disruptive Free Speech in the Workplace” for the summer 2019 edition of The Quarterly: A Publication of the Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association.

In the article, Christy chronicles the vast differences between the protection of employee free speech in the public and private sectors. While private employees are, in certain states, considered “at-will employees” and can be fired or disciplined without a disclosed reason, public employees do retain some protection under the First Amendment. The gray-area between employee free speech and employer regulations is ongoing. Today, most organizations impose a communications and/or social media policy that discourages defamatory language against the company or a fellow co-worker. The only cases of full employee protection under the First Amendment stems from state and federal laws that promote “whistleblowers and encourage union activity.” 

Christy’s areas of practice include product liability, toxic torts, and labor and employment law. She has defended cases ranging from complex product liability actions to multi-million dollar business disputes. Christy pioneered defense strategies for silica clients in the state of Mississippi. She has defended thousands of cases across the southeast for sand companies, respiratory protection manufacturers and suppliers, and sandblasting equipment manufacturers and distributors.