In the year since Kirk’s killing, dozens of workers across the United States have filed lawsuits over their dismissals following comments about the activist. They argue that their firings violated their free-speech rights, and some cases have resulted in substantial settlements.
Brown accepted a $485,000 (£355,000) settlement—roughly 12 times her annual salary.
Darren Michael was reinstated at Austin Peay State University, which later agreed to pay him $500,000 to settle his legal claims. The university 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 resolve a lawsuit brought by anthropologist Tamar Shirinian over her “better off” comment. Under the agreement, Shirinian will not be reinstated and has agreed not to apply for future positions at the university.
An arbitrator has also ordered The Washington Post to reinstate opinion journalist Karen Attiah with back pay. She had been fired over online posts that included a statement that she would not participate in “performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence”.
The BBC found that several other lawsuits remain pending.
Most of the legal challenges have been brought by employees of government institutions or by unionized workers, both of whom may have certain free-speech protections.
However, most private-sector workers in the United States are employed under “at-will” contracts, allowing employers to terminate them without providing a reason.
Even those who have achieved some measure of success in court do not consider the outcomes a true victory.
“All I wanted was my job back,” Brown said. “How much taxpayer money did they waste on this when I barely made $40,000 a year? So no, it does not feel like justice.”
Shirinian told the BBC that she, too, had wanted her job back but believed litigation could become a prolonged process.
“I took a settlement because this allows me to move on with my life,” she said. “The one small regret that I have is that I will not see my day in court and justice will not be served in that way. But I think that the number of the settlement actually speaks to that anyway.”
The University of Tennessee and Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.