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In the private sector, the First Amendment does not apply. However, in the public sector, employees have First Amendment rights that may protect them from employment consequences especially if the employee was speaking on a topic that is of interest to the public and if the employee was speaking in their capacity as a private citizen not in their role as a public employee. Courts will also look to whether the speech’s disruption to public-sector operations outweighs the speech rights of the individual employee. These are difficult cases to handle, and legal counsel should be consulted before any public-sector employer takes employment action based on speech