WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - A New York City hospital fired a Palestinian American Muslim nurse after she called Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide” during an acceptance speech for an award for her work with bereaved mothers who lost their children during pregnancy and childbirth.
A spokesperson of the hospital, NYU Langone Health, said on Thursday that labor and delivery nurse Hesen Jabr had previously been warned not to bring her views “on this divisive and charged issue into the workplace.”
Jabr posted on Instagram that she was awarded on May 7, when she made her remarks, adding that she was handed a termination letter later in the month.
Neither does Free Speech as defined in the First Amendment. No right is absolute, the question is where’s the line?
Broadly there are obviously different lines for various reasons.
I don’t support the decision made in the article, however, if she was told not to talk about it at work by her employer and she chose to do so, she crossed the line of insubordination regardless of the content of her message.
I don’t know specifics of New York labour laws, but I know they’re much more employee friendly than other states (though that’s a pretty low bar to clear). I know some speech is protected, so the content does matter.