An en banc court found that potentially adverse consequences, including being removed from the training and not getting paid, gave teachers an objectively reasonable basis for self-censorship.
Reversing a district court’s dismissal of two school employees’ free speech claims for lack of standing, a divided Eighth Circuit, sitting en banc, determined that the employees wanted to speak out against the views expressed during an equity training program but had engaged in self-censorship based on the district’s warning that failure to complete the training or to act in a “professional” manner would result in docked pay. Chief Judge Colloton, joined by four others, dissented, arguing that “Public employee training will now be fraught with uncertainty,” and that an employer that trains on any subject from any point of view could now face the threat of litigation (Henderson v. Springfield R-12 School District, No. 23-1374 (8th Cir. Dec. 30, 2025)).
Mandatory training. The equity training giving rise to this lawsuit was offered in-person and online during the Fall of 2020. One of the employees attended the in-person training while the other opted for the online course.
When the training was announced, the district communicated to the employees that they would not receive credit if they failed to attend the training, which they understood to mean that they would not receive their full pay if they did not attend the training. A Power Point slide presented at the training also...
Were idols of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar broken? No. Was the Kumbha Mahadev temple demolished? No. On 10 January 2025, renovation work at Varanasi's Manikarnika Ghat led to the fracturing of a centuri...