The federal government has about 2.3 million employees, not counting postal workers. It’s difficult to get an exact count because so many have been fired this year and their firings are being appealed in court. 2.3 million is slightly larger than Walmart, making the government the nation’s largest employer and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) the largest HR department. The nation’s largest HR department issued new guidance last week on talking religion at work that has me looking for synonyms for the word “appalling.” If you’re not a federal employee, keep reading; it could still affect you.
First, this was unnecessary because there were guidelines on this topic in effect that go back to the Clinton administration. Federal employees have First Amendment rights and have been allowed to engage in personal religious expression in the workplace to the same extent they could engage in comparable non-religious expression, provided it didn’t interfere with work or violate the rights of others.
The new guidance says, “Conversations Between Federal Employees: Employees may engage in conversations regarding religious topics with fellow employees, including attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views, provided that such efforts are not harassing in nature. Employees may also encourage their coworkers to participate in religious expressions of faith, such as prayer, to the same extent that they would be permitted to encourage coworkers to participate in other personal activities.” Wow.
And “The constitutional rights of supervisors to engage in such conversations should not be distinguished from non-supervisory employees by the nature of their supervisory roles. However, unwillingness to engage in such conversations may not be the basis of workplace discipline.” Again, Wow. Supervisors can do this with their employees. That’s just a small part of the five page memo.
Spelling it out that you can attempt to persuade others of the incorrectness of their own religious views is a genius way to improve productivity in the office. Now Barb in payroll can tell you on the elevator that you’ve got it all wrong, and you really should go to church with her this Sunday. (Sorry if there are any Barbs reading; I have an Aunt Barb, and you all had your moment two summers ago.)
And let’s be realistic. It’s not going to be Presbyterians trying to convert Methodists. It’s going to mostly be the faith groups that emphasize converting people, which are primarily the Evangelicals, the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Muslims, trying to convert the nonbelievers in the office. Proselytizing the heathens has a long, distressing history in this country.
What do HR professionals have to say on this topic? The Society for Human Resources Management says “Religious inclusion should extend to those who are unaffiliated, including agnostics, atheists, and people who identify as spiritual but not religious. While they may not require specific accommodations, it’s essential that they feel equally respected and seen.” So, not being told they’re going to Hell. OPM does not seem interested in Best Practices.
The part about how supervisors can proselytize like everyone else is just astounding. Who is going to decide when the conversation becomes “harassing”? There are no details on that, no examples of what not to do, nothing.
If you’re reading this and you’re not a federal worker, you’re not off the hook. Official examples of acceptable activity while interacting with the public:
“A park ranger leading a tour through a national park may join her tour group in prayer.”
“A doctor at a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital may pray over his patient for her recovery.”
Maybe the ranger’s praying not to get fired. The National Park Service has lost 24 percent of its permanent staff this year.
It may be a while before someone sues their federal agency because they didn’t go to church with their boss and got fired. In the mean time SCA is putting together our own guidance for nonbelievers working for the federal government on what they can do in the new world of the religious federal workplace. We’ll have it out soon. First I need to check with Barb in Legal to make sure we got it right.
