City OKs workers’
religious leafletsA federal suit results in new
guidelines for expression
of beliefs
City department supervisors have been reminded that employees have a right to share religious literature with co-workers.
Guidelines on religion in the workplace distributed to department heads last month affirm that city employees have a right to distribute religious leaflets in a work environment that also sees information posted on school fund-raisers, items for sale, community service projects and entertainment events.
The guidelines were prepared in settlement of a federal lawsuit by city maintenance worker Kelly Jenkins, who complained that his supervisor tossed out Calvary Chapel literature he had spread around the workplace lunchroom.
"The manager should not prevent its employees from speaking out on matters of religion, expressing their beliefs, sharing religious literature," said the guidelines distributed April 1 by the city Department of Human Resources. "That others may not agree with and are personally offended by the content of religious expressions of other employees in the workplace does not warrant disciplinary action." However, the guidelines draw the line at "severe, pervasive and intimidating harassment based on religion."
Employee rights to free expression about beliefs, guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and the state Constitution, "are counterbalanced by the rights of other employees not to be harassed on the basis of religion and the right of the employer to conduct its operations without unreasonable interference," said a nondiscrimination clause.
The guidelines are "not a policy shift," said city spokeswoman Carol Costa. "This is a clarification of employee rights." She said Deputy Attorney General Greg Swartz will prepare further language giving examples of permitted and forbidden behavior.
Swartz represented the city in the suit filed in U.S. District Court in 2003 by Jenkins, whose case was backed by the Rutherford Institute of Virginia, a nonprofit civil liberties organization. Neither Jenkins nor attorney James Hochberg could be reached for comment.
American Civil Liberties Union Legal Director Lois Perrin said the guidelines are "potentially dangerously broad. There is a delicate balance between one person's expression and other people's right to say they don't want to hear it. My concern is these guidelines would not prevent them from proselytizing."
Perrin said the ACLU does support the right of religious expression in the workplace and is watching for the memo that will further describe limits of specific conduct.