Tad Mayfield worked at the Missouri House since 2011 as a state employee earning some $50,000 annually until he was terminated last year allegedly for exercising his First Amendment rights and complaining about masks.
“He's a legislative employee and being a legislative employee, puts him in a position of not saying things that will affect his legislator or the whole assembly improperly,” said St. Louis attorney Sydney Chase.
Instead of going away quietly, Mayfield decided to sue. He filed a lawsuit last week in Cole County Circuit Court, alleging wrongful termination, according to media reports.
“The first thing that interests me is whether an employee has the right to make his employer follow rules based on his knowledge and what he's been told is inappropriate,” Chase told the St. Louis Record. “I believe he can't do that. As long as the employer has acted reasonably within appropriate guidelines, the employee can't demand more.”
The House voted against requiring lawmakers to follow Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advice for curbing the spread of COVID-19 earlier this year. As a result, there is no mask mandate.
“He has a First Amendment right as a citizen but he works for the legislature and that First Amendment right should be taken outside on Twitter, or printed in a book or put out on a pamphlet,“ Chase said. “If you exercise your First Amendment right to the detriment of your employer, then you're putting your job at risk if you work for the legislature.”
In his complaint, Mayfield names former speaker Elijah Haahr, Dana Miller, house clerk, Judy Kempker, house human resources director, and Emily White, assistant house clerk
The News-Herald reported that when Mayfield was asked to complete an alternative interim work plan that required him to work one day a week in person, he declined even though plexiglass had been installed along with a dutch door.
“The question is whether these people in the Missouri legislature were reasonable in handling how their employees should operate and were they reasonable under the COVID situation,” Chase said. “This is a fact-based case. If legislators acted reasonably and they performed reasonably, he's out of the box, and also if they fired him properly because he wasn't serving his legislator properly, he's also going to be out of the box.”
Mayfield is asking the court to reinstate him to his former position and award punitive damages.
“They don't reinstate people in legislative positions,” Chase added. “They may give him money in damages if they feel he's right but reinstatement is totally out of line because courts do not like to interfere with the second department or the first department of the Missouri and federal constitution."