Opinion ID: 1902661
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Matter of Public Concern

Text: [¶ 16] Whether an employee's speech addresses a matter of public concern must be determined by the content, form, and context of a given statement, as revealed by the whole record. Connick, 461 U.S. at 147-48, 103 S.Ct. 1684. In Connick, an assistant district attorney who was displeased with a proposed transfer distributed a questionnaire to her fellow staff members concerning office transfer policy, office morale, confidence in supervisors, the need for a grievance committee, and whether employees felt pressured to work in political campaigns. See id. at 140-41, 103 S.Ct. 1684. After being fired, in part, for distributing the questionnaire, the assistant district attorney filed suit, claiming that she had been terminated for engaging in constitutionally protected speech. See id. [¶ 17] The United States Supreme Court concluded that the questions relating to office transfer policy, office morale, confidence in supervisors, and the need for a grievance committee did not involve matters of public concern because they were not directed toward the performance and potential wrong-doing of the district attorney's office relative to its public trust in investigating and prosecuting criminal cases. See id. at 148, 103 S.Ct. 1684. Rather, the Court found that those questions arose from the assistant district attorney's disagreement with her proposed transfer, and were related only to matters of internal discipline and morale within the workplace. See id. The Court cautioned that the First Amendment does not require a public office to be run as a roundtable for employee complaints over internal office affairs. Id. [¶ 18] The Court, however, concluded that one question in the questionnaire was significantly different from the others. It determined that asking whether employees felt pressured to work in political campaigns did involve a matter of public concern, primarily because of the employees' fundamental constitutional interest in supporting the political candidates of their choice and the demonstrated public interest in government employees being evaluated on the basis of meritorious performance and not political service. See id. [¶ 19] In this case, Moen's speech similarly involved a matter of public concern. Although motivated in part by a personal desire to gain improved employment benefits and obtain the assistance of the organized labor process in that effort, Moen's speech was also motivated by his objective, as union steward, to effectuate the goals of the MLRA. To the extent Moen sought personal gain for himself or his fellow employees through employment benefits, his statements were not a matter of public interest. The right of public employees to join, form, and participate in labor organizations for the purpose of representation and collective bargaining is, however, like the political question in Connick, a matter of public concern about which public employees must have the freedom to speak. [5] The court therefore did not err in concluding that Moen's `speech,' encouraging subordinate police officers to tape record their meetings with the Chief of Police, constitute[d] comment upon matters of public concern.