Critical E-mail Brings Worker Suspension; Suit Against Employer May Follow
by Allie Martin
November 4, 2005
(AgapePress) - - A government employee in California is fighting a reprimand she recently received for sending an e-mail expressing her religious beliefs.
The employee, who works for a large state agency in Sacramento, read an article in a national magazine which featured a lesbian attorney and her partner. The state worker was troubled by a statement in the article attributed to the attorney. That statement read: "Hypocrisy occurs when religion is used to justify why two people should not be married."
The worker e-mailed the attorney from work, expressing her beliefs concerning religion and homosexuality and quoting several verses from the Bible. The attorney contacted the state employee's supervisors, complaining about the e-mail and citing the use of scripture as "being harassing." After an investigation, the employee was suspended for 30 days without pay.
The Pacific Justice Institute has now filed an appeal with the State Personnel Board on the employee's behalf. PJI's Brad Dacus says workers' rights to express their religious convictions -- "especially when they are acting in their personal capacity" -- must be preserved.
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Brad Dacus |
"The other employees there on the job were allowed to send out messages -- and still are allowed -- in their free time about a number of other subjects and opinions," Dacus explains. "No employee should be punished simply because their opinion happens to be from a Christian perspective." The appeal filed by PJI cites several Supreme Court precedents protecting the right of government employees to express their opinions on issues of public concern. And Dacus contends that protections in the U.S. Constitution prevents government employers from "censoring" e-mail messages transmitted by employees during the lunch hour or break time "simply because the employer doesn't like the religious viewpoint or perspective expressed in that e-mail."
The PJI attorney representing the state employee concurs. Matthew McReynolds says the employer's actions were unconstitutional as well as unprecedented -- and that his firm "will not stand idly by while free speech is flattened by political correctness."
The state employee has just completed the 30-day suspension. Dacus says a lawsuit is possible.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
