Ex-Reporter’s Suit Over Layoff Is Based on State Workplace Speech Law

A former consumer reporter for the Hartford Courant claims in a lawsuit that his free speech rights were violated when his job was eliminated before he could write a critical column about an advertiser.

Journalist George Gombossy is basing his claim on a state law that protects speech in the workplace, the Associated Press reports.

''Our suit, if successful, should result in less pressure on journalists to commit unethical acts on behalf of advertisers as media publishers will know that it will be at their peril,'' Gombossy said in a statement.

The Courant maintains it had a right to lay off Gombossy, and he is mischaracterizing the circumstances of his departure. “A business decision was made to move in another direction that did not require his particular talents,'' the company said in a statement.