Florida pays fired biologist $485,000 after Charlie Kirk post lawsuit

Florida’s wildlife agency agreed to pay $485,000 to a biologist it fired after a private Instagram repost about Charlie Kirk, ending a case that had become a test of how far a state employer can go in punishing off-duty political speech.

Brittney Brown worked for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for about seven years as a biological scientist studying shorebirds and seabirds near Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle. The agency fired her on Sept. 15, 2025, after she reposted a meme on her private Instagram story that mocked Kirk and referred to gun violence in classrooms. Brown said she was off the clock and outside her state office when she posted it.

Brown sued, accusing the state of First Amendment retaliation and viewpoint discrimination. Her lawyers argued that Florida had punished a worker for protected political expression on a personal account. State attorneys countered that the firing was necessary to protect public trust, neutrality, credibility and operational effectiveness inside a regulatory agency.

The dispute was headed for a federal trial in June 2026, but on May 21, 2026, Florida Fish and Wildlife Executive Director Roger Young agreed to settle. Under the deal, Brown will receive $275,000, including $40,000 in back pay and $235,000 in compensatory damages. The state will also pay $210,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs.

The settlement goes beyond money. Brown will receive a neutral reference, and the agency will allow her to interact with FWC staff and resources on the same basis as other external partners or volunteers. Brown has said that matters because she wants to continue working in conservation through partner organizations, but has struggled to find comparable employment while the state’s wildlife commission remains the regulator for her specialty.

Her legal team said discovery undercut the state’s account of the fallout from her post. Lawyers for Brown said the agency’s claims of hundreds of complaints and major disruption were fabricated. Court records showed about 50 documented complaints, not hundreds. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker also sanctioned an FWC official over a false affidavit and sanctioned the state’s law firm for vexatious litigation in May 2026.

The case has traveled beyond Florida because it fits a broader national pattern of workers, including teachers, professors and other public employees, who were disciplined or lost jobs over social media comments about Kirk’s death. Brown’s attorneys at the ACLU of Florida called the settlement a vindication, saying that First Amendment protections do not disappear when someone works for the government. Brown said she wanted her job back and accused state leaders of turning FWC into the governor’s “personal puppet show,” while saying taxpayers were forced to bankroll a politically motivated firing.