Dist. Ct. did not err in granting plaintiffs-firefighters and union’s motion for issuance of preliminary injunction in their action, alleging that defendants implemented undesirable work schedule (that called for plaintiffs to change shifts on subsequent days during week) in retaliation for their political speech that concerned plaintiffs’ unsuccessful attempts to return some benefits to them that had been frozen by Mayor. Dist. Ct. could properly have found that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on merits of case, where record showed link between plaintiffs’ attempts to return benefits and implementation of new schedule. Moreover, plaintiffs were likely to continue to suffer First Amendment harms, as well as physical and psychological harm caused by new schedule. Also, while defendant justified implementation of new schedule by noting financial benefits to City arising out of new schedule and argued that requested injunction would harm statutory authority given to Mayor and Fire Chief, Dist. Ct. could have properly found that record did not support justifications for new schedule cited by defendants.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
First Amendment