Florida appellate court rejects Rebekah Jones' whistleblower and free-speech claims
The Florida Court of Appeal ruled that former health-department employee Rebekah Jones failed to prove protected whistleblower activity or First Amendment retaliation in her lawsuit over her 2020 dismissal.
Rebekah Jones served as the Environmental Health Program Consultant for the Florida Department of Health’s Division of Disease Control, overseeing the COVID-19 Dashboard during the early pandemic. After she posted on social media and a blog identifying herself as the dashboard manager and after refusing to lower infection rates at the direction of Deputy Secretary Shamarial Roberson, she was removed from the project and later fired.
Jones altered dashboard files, revoked coworkers’ access, and defied orders to restore privileges, actions the court said demonstrated insubordination rather than protected activity. The appellate judges affirmed the trial court’s finding that she never submitted a written, statutory whistleblower complaint and that her grievances were personal, not disclosures of illegal conduct. The court also rejected her First Amendment claim, noting that speech tied to her official duties does not enjoy the same constitutional protection as private citizen speech. Legal representation for the state was provided by attorneys from Henry Buchanan, P.A. and Lawson Huck Gonzalez, PLLC.
Why it matters
The decision clarifies limits on whistleblower protections and free-speech rights for government employees in Florida.
In this story