Unlike private sector workers, government employees enjoy certain constitutional protections while at work, including free speech rights under the First Amendment. The extent of those rights has been the subject of countless lawsuits and court opinions going back decades. Last week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) rejected a Maryland teacher’s claims that a public school district’s policy requiring her to use students’ preferred pronouns violated her First Amendment rights.
In Polk v. Montgomery County Public Schools, the plaintiff was required to watch a training video and affirm her understanding of the need to comply with the pronoun policy. She refused, stating that her Christian beliefs prohibited her from using pronouns inconsistent with a student’s "God-given sex." She asked for an accommodation excusing her from complying with the policy. When that request was denied, she sued alleging violation of Title VII’s religious discrimination prohibitions, as well as her rights to free speech and free exercise of religion under the First Amendment.
The district court granted the school district’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s First Amendment claims. In a 2-1 decision, a Fourth Circuit panel affirmed this dismissal. The court noted that the school district’s policy was neutral on its face. There was no evidence that it was intended to generally burden employees’ religious beliefs. While application of the policy did burden the plaintiff’s individual beliefs, this impact was not limited to Christians. The court noted that many Christians did not object to the policy, and that other persons could object on secular grounds. As a result, the school district’s policy is only subject to "rational basis" review.
In addition to challenging the basis for the policy, the plaintiff alleged that it would force her to support "transgenderism" in violation of her free speech rights. The Fourth Circuit concluded that the policy only applied to her teaching duties and did not impact her ability as a citizen to express her views on this subject. Public employers can limit employee speech when the restrictions relate to workplace duties.
The district court did not grant the school district's motion to dismiss the plaintiff's Title VII claim, and the Fourth Circuit did not weigh in on that claim. Regardless of the fate of First Amendment challenges, plaintiffs can argue their employer failed to provide reasonable accommodations in line with their religious beliefs.
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