In the year since Kirk’s killing, dozens of lawsuits have been filed across the country by people fired for comments about the activist, arguing that the firing violated their free speech rights. In some cases, the claims resulted in substantial payouts.
Brown agreed to a financial settlement of US$485,000 (£355,000), approximately 12 times Brown’s annual salary.
Darren Michael was reinstated by Austin Peay State University, and the school agreed in January to pay him $500,000 to settle the lawsuits. The school did not respond to a request for comment.
In the largest settlement reviewed by the BBC, the University of Tennessee agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle a lawsuit brought by anthropologist Tamar Shirinian over her “better position” remarks. As part of the settlement, she will not be reinstated and has agreed not to reapply for future positions at the school.
An arbitrator recently ordered The Washington Post to rehire, with back pay, opinion journalist Karen Attia, who was fired for her online posts that said in part that she had no intention of engaging in “performative mourning for a white man who espouses violence.”
Several other lawsuits remain pending, according to the BBC.
Most of the lawsuits have been brought by government employees or workers in unions, which have some free speech protections.
But in the US, most private sector employees work on “at-will” contracts, which means they can be fired without cause.
Even those who have won several victories do not consider it a victory.
“All I wanted was to go back to work,” said biologist Brown. “How much taxpayer money did they spend on this when I was barely making $40,000 a year? So no, this doesn’t seem like justice.”
Shirinyan told the BBC that she also wanted to return to her job, but felt the trial could drag on.
“I agreed to the settlement because it allows me to move on with my life,” she told the BBC. “The only small regret I have is that I will not live to see the trial and justice will not be served in this way. But I think the number of settlements speaks volumes anyway.”
The University of Tennessee and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.