{"id":1150,"date":"2025-05-04T23:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T23:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/eight-former-umich-employees-file-lawsuit-against-university-of-michigan-for-wrongful-termination\/"},"modified":"2025-05-04T23:01:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T23:01:17","slug":"eight-former-umich-employees-file-lawsuit-against-university-of-michigan-for-wrongful-termination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/eight-former-umich-employees-file-lawsuit-against-university-of-michigan-for-wrongful-termination\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight former UMich employees file lawsuit against University of Michigan for wrongful termination"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Early Thursday morning, eight former University of Michigan employees filed a federal lawsuit<\/a> against the University for wrongful termination for participation in pro-Palestinian protests. The plaintiffs, one full-time employee and seven student workers, argued the University violated First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of free speech and the right to due process. The lawsuit states that termination of employee contracts and bans from future employment did not occur until the Ruthven sit-in protest<\/a> on Nov. 17, 2023. The Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice<\/a> and American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee<\/a> will represent the plaintiffs in the 36th District Court<\/a> in Detroit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a press release<\/a> by the ADC, John Philo, executive and legal director of the Sugar Law Center, wrote that the terminations were carried out due to pro-Palestinian speech, not because of misbehavior as employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, the University of Michigan is trying to resurrect an old but previously discarded tactic of firing and blacklisting workers whose viewpoints they don\u2019t agree with,\u201d Philo wrote. \u201cBy all accounts, each of our clients was a dedicated employee performing necessary work for the University. University officials and Michigan\u2019s Attorney General have taken many seemingly coordinated actions to undermine the free speech of pro-Palestine protesters on campus.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chris Godshall-Bennett, legal director of the ADC, wrote in the press release that the terminations are representative of a nationwide repression of pro-Palestinian speech.\u00a0<\/p>\n