Holub v. Gdowski, No. 14-1419 (10th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseAdams 12 Five Star Schools terminated Gina Holub’s employment as an internal auditor for the School District. She brought an action against the District and two of its officials, Superintendent Chris Gdowski and Chief Financial Officer Shelley Becker. Holub raised First Amendment and state law claims, alleging defendants terminated her employment in retaliation for her attempts to uncover and report fraudulent budgeting practices. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants on all of Holub’s claims. On appeal to the Tenth Circuit, Holub argued the district court erred in concluding that when she discussed her concerns with two School District board members, she spoke as an employee rather than a citizen and thus her speech was not protected by the First Amendment. The Tenth Circuit concluded that because Holub’s responsibilities as an internal auditor for the District included discovering and reporting accounting and budgeting issues, her comments to the Board members concerning her budget findings were made pursuant to her official duties and were not protected. Furthermore, the Court found the record contained no controverted material facts to support Holub’s claim that her termination resulted from an ongoing effort to conceal her budget findings.
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