Solicitation
Tammy
14 Posts
Employees in our Agency ( I work in Public Sector) have posted notices soliciting other employees to attend a rally to protest some things they disagree with. If we allow these fliers, we are opening the door to many others and will be hard pressed to allow some and disallow others. We do not have a policy addressign this issue. There seem to be no concern on the part of the top of the organization, and other solicitation activities take place on a regular basis ( such as selling Girl Scout cookies, etc.) I am told that solicitations of this nature are a lot less of a concern in Public Sector vs. Private Sector. I would appreciate any feedback, especially from attorneys and those who work in the Public Sector.
Comments
Texas is an at-will state. In Austin we see some union activity in law enforcement but generally we don't have a lot of union issues. However, it is my understanding that the absolutely no solicitation rules establish a level field for denying certain types of labor activity. If you let in certain types of solicitations you can't then deny the same access to union activities. For employers wanting to maintain a untion free envioronment this might be an important policy concern. (Again, I don't deal much with union issues so someone else might jump in on this issue).
On the other hand, it's hard to limit certain types of free speech activities when you work for the well-spring from which rights flow. In our arena, so much is about politics and perception. It's difficult to espouse "good government is open government" then try to put the brakes on the free flow of political thought in your organization. Particularly, it is hard to keep citizens from sending communications to their government even if the communications are solicitations.
Government does have to be sensitive in the use of their resources for personal or private activities. Passive soliciations such as setting a box of cookies and a for sale sign in the breakroom might be ok so long as government resources weren't used to make the sign or an employee is not using worktime to sell office-to-office. On the other hand, a flyer about a KKK rally or advocating civil disobedience at an abortion clinic might be inappropriate hanging in a police station breakroom whether or not it was printed at private expense. In my office, our policies impacting personal choice are grounded in a philosophy that taxpayers expect certain standards from us. Any limitations are based on keeping the public trust high. We do place communication limitations related to groups or activities that advocate hate, violence, discrimination, etc.
It may also be that certain types of positions have higher standards. For example, a prosecutor may have limitations on certain types of behavior that a file clerk may not have. Uniformed police officers may have limitations while in uniform that they might not have out of uniform, based on the authority and power that goes with a badge and a gun.
I hope this helps. Your question is pretty broad so I took a scattershot approach.
Assuming the employees are complaining about work issues, they also may be protected by the National Labor Relations Act or a similar state law. Again, because of the difficulties in this type of situation, I would talk to a specialist. The employees may be involved in protected concerted activity.
Even with a no-solication policy, because of labor law, you cannot ban all soliciations and distributions in all areas.
Good Luck!!