Florida’s wildlife agency has now been sued by all three employees fired over posts about the murder of Charlie Kirk, in separate lawsuits alleging the state violated the First Amendment by firing them over protected speech.
The latest to file a lawsuit is Taylor Ozimek, a Palm Beach County resident who was employed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as a biologist for over a year. She was fired in September for commenting on a TikTok video of Kirk speaking before he was shot in a Utah university campus, where she wrote, “As Charlie Kirk once said…. Worth it.”
Ozimek was referencing a comment the 31-year-old conservative influencer made in a past interview when discussing Second Amendment rights to bear arms, “I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
Ozimek’s attorney is arguing in the lawsuit that being fired over her online comment is a violation of the First Amendment’s right to free speech. In a termination letter given to Ozimek dated Sept. 15, an FWC official said that the reason for firing her was “based on a social media post made by you that is offensive in nature.”
Because they fired her based on a comment that was “protected political speech,” Ozimek is looking for reinstatement to her job plus backpay.
“Plaintiff’s post was a political statement indicating her opposition to gun violence and her rejection of the Wild West culture encouraged by many Second Amendment proponents, including Mr. Kirk,” the lawsuit complaint said.
FWC press secretary Ashlee Brahier Sklute said the agency does not comment on active litigation. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, an Obama-appointed judge based in Tallahassee who’s also been assigned to the other two free speech lawsuits against FWC.
This latest lawsuit comes more than a month after the Florida wildlife agency agreed to pay nearly a half-million dollars to settle its first legal challenge with an employee fired for a post about Kirk, Brittney Brown, who was a biologist in Panama City Beach. In June, an ex-dispatcher sued FWC after the agency fired her in September for commenting on Facebook about Kirk’s death.
It also comes while multiple lawsuits over Kirk posts across the country are being settled, including a former Tennessee assistant professor who got $1.9 million, a former university administrator in Indiana who got $225,000 and Brown in Florida, who got $485,000 from her lawsuit against FWC.
Unlike Brown, Ozimek’s post didn’t get widespread attention on social media. Brown’s Instagram repost went viral on the conservative Libs of TikTok social media page, at the time when the account was blasting public workers online who spoke critically of Kirk.
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@usatodayco.com. On X: @stephanymatat.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida faces third lawsuit for firing biologist over Charlie Kirk post
Reporting by Stephany Matat, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Stephany Matat, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida | USA TODAY Network
