TN FF Disciplined over Tweet Files Suit

A comedian in Nashville took to Twitter to accuse city council members of being white supremacists following a controversial vote in February.

Six weeks later, he was suspended from his daytime job as a firefighter without pay for just over two weeks, his lawyers said.

Now Joshua Lipscomb — who goes by the stage name Josh Black — is suing the Nashville Fire Department over policies he said trample on his freedom of speech. His lawyers said he sent the tweet from his “Joshua Black” Twitter account, which makes no mention of his real name or job as a firefighter.

Regardless, Lipscomb and his lawyers said his constitutionally protected right to free speech does not end because he works for the government.

“When I took this job, I accepted the risk serving the community as a firefighter may result in injury or death,” Lipscomb reportedly said during his disciplinary hearing. “I do not accept, however, that it also requires me to sacrifice my constitutional rights and in particular my right to speak freely as a private citizen on public political decisions which affect me as a Black man, a Nashvillian, a Tennessean and an American.”

Lipscomb is represented by Abby R. Rubenfeld of Rubenfeld Law Office PC and Tricia Herzfeld of Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings PLLC. In a statement to McClatchy News, Rubenfeld said Lipscomb is good at his job and has not received any complaints about his work.

“Government workers, especially those like Mr. Lipscomb, who risk their lives every day to protect the citizens of our community, deserve better treatment than being severely disciplined for exercising their basic constitutional rights,” she said.

A spokesperson for the Nashville Fire Department declined to comment on pending litigation in a statement to McClatchy News on Tuesday, April 12.

The debate started with a Feb. 1 vote by the Nashville City Council to approve a license plate reader program that some residents said unfairly targets Black and brown drivers.

On Feb. 2, Lipscomb tweeted his disappointment over the vote using the handle @SirJoshuaBlack.

“I hate feeding into the illusion that America’s government and existence is legitimate so I’m no fan of voting,” he said. “But the majority of Nashville city council is white supremacists. I know its boring but millennials HAVE to start caring about local elections. These folk want us dead.”

Lipscomb also tweeted his support for some of the city council members and groups that opposed the program, which he said would allow for “aggressive surveillance of Black communities.”

Several weeks later on Feb. 22, the Nashville Fire Department sent Lipscomb a letter stating that he was expected to attend a disciplinary hearing because his tweet violated departmental policies.

Lipscomb was accused of conduct unbecoming of an employee of the government, among other violations, according to a copy of the letter attached to his lawsuit.

His lawyers said Lipscomb made it clear at the hearing that he believed he had engaged in protected political speech, but a panel of three supervisory fire department personnel reportedly said it was grounds for punishment.

“I got what you are saying,” one of the panelists said, according to the complaint. “You have free speech, but it’s always consequences to everything we do whether it’s good or bad. There are always consequences.”

Lipscomb was then suspended for 16 days without pay on March 18, his attorneys said.

It’s not the first time the firefighter has been in trouble for his social media posts, according to the lawsuit.

In 2020, Lipscomb was suspended for eight days after he reportedly posted a conversation he recorded with the owner of a local shop that sold yellow Star of David patches for people who didn’t want a COVID-19 vaccine.

“Both suspensions violated Mr. Lipscomb’s right to free speech and cost him his pay simply because he exercised his constitutionally protected rights,” his attorneys said in the complaint. “Josh Black, as an extremely active observer of government activity, has a lot to say about issues of public concern but has been chilled from speaking out fully because of the threat of increasing punishment at his job.”

The lawsuit accuses Nashville Fire Department of infringing on the First Amendment by enforcing policies that use vague terms and are “viewpoint-based restriction on free speech.”

Lipscomb and his lawyers want to have them declared unconstitutional as a result.

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