Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507210091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Long
A new policy regulating the conduct of Pulaski town employees is vague and goes too far, representatives of civil liberties organizations say.
The five-page document, which Pulaski Town Council approved Tuesday, tells employees to avoid talking about their political, religious or social affiliations during work or in any situation where they might be seen as representing the town.
``I would literally go to work and be afraid to talk to anyone anytime about anything other than work,'' Kent Willis, director of the state American Civil Liberties Union office in Richmond, said Thursday after reviewing the document.
``Even on the job, employees have private time. ... This document doesn't seem to allow you to talk about politics on your break, which is absurd,'' he said. ``If speaking of politics on your break does leak into your work space, that's another matter."
Willis said municipalities have the right to administer their offices in a reasonable manner. Racial slurs should not be tolerated, for example. And while employees need not park their religion at the door, they should not use the workplace to proselytize.
``And that makes sense,'' he said. ``This goes too far.''
Neither Pulaski Town Manager Tom Combiths nor Town Attorney Frank Terwilliger would comment on whether a particular incident had prompted the policy.
``My sense is that localities rarely create this kind of policy without having something occur,'' said Julie Lapham, executive director of Common Cause of Virginia.
``It sounds excessive,'' she said. ``I don't think that will pass muster in Virginia. ... I mean, Virginia is the home of `Give me liberty or give me death.'''
It also could be affected by the state's Dillon Rule, she said, which gives localities only those powers authorized by the state, and restricts localities from adopting laws that are stricter than state laws.
``I don't know any business that is that restrictive,'' she said. ``I'm kind of being nice by using the word `restrictive.'''
``It's new to me,'' said Mike Amyx of the Virginia Municipal League. ``It's broad-based. It covers an awful lot.''
Wil Dibling, Roanoke city attorney, said Roanoke has no policy similar to Pulaski's and ``there is no discussion'' about creating one.
Paul Mahoney, Roanoke County attorney, said he was unaware of Pulaski's recent policy change and could not comment on it.
He said, however, that Roanoke County is sensitive to speech issues because of lawsuits being filed across the country in which ex-employees or current ones claim a co-worker's speech or display of photos or objects create ``a hostile work environment.''
As for Roanoke County, Mahoney said it has policies addressing issues such as sexual harassment where certain speech is banned. There is also a policy prohibiting partisan political activity - such as handing out campaign fliers - while an employee is at work. There is no policy restricting an employee from talking about politics or religion in general, though.
``I don't know if it's common or not. All I can tell you is we don't have one,'' Christiansburg Town Manager John Lemley said.
``Radford does have personnel rules and regulations,'' Radford City Manager Robert Asbury said. ``But not to that degree.''
Assistant Blacksburg City Manager Bonnie Svrcek said no such policy exists there.
``No, you're not going to find anything like that in ours, either,'' said Wytheville Clerk Sharon Cassell.
``It's clear what Pulaski is trying to do here, but they have overstepped the line,'' said the ACLU's Willis. ``This looks like an anti-whistleblower policy.
``This is dealing with admittedly a difficult issue but it is simply too vague for most people to know what to do in most circumstances.''
He said it could have a chilling effect on employees reporting work problems. ``What they have done is say, `We're going to measure whether you can speak out on fraud or abuse, based on your intent,''' he said, ``and I'm not sure they can determine that kind of measure.''
The policy also covers nonverbal communication such as posters or desk objects that have a political, religious or social message. ``There are things that are objectionable,'' Willis said. ``But this doesn't make those distinctions. It simply bans all of these things.''
The policy also is vague on punishment, but does say it can include dismissal.
``It's very difficult to tell what the force of this document is,'' Willis said. ``It's primarily a statement of policy with some guidelines and it may well depend on how those guidelines are applied.''
``You've got to be careful when you're writing a policy like this or enforcing a policy like this,'' agreed Terwilliger, Pulaski's town attorney. He said the town is trying to balance the policy with the First Amendment rights.
Terwilliger said that municipalities and even the federal government, with its Hatch Act, long have had policies restricting political activities by public employees. ``This is designed to sort of fill in the gaps,'' he said.
Staff writer Lisa K. Garcia contributed information to this story.
Memo: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.