In the public sector, participants in training courses regularly ask me what they’re permitted to say in social media. Since freedom of speech applies to public-sector employees as well, I don’t quite understand the problem. An event last week made the issue clearer for me.
On Twitter, an official shared a link to someone’s blog post that sarcastically criticized a decision made by the city. The official’s boss forwarded a message from the boss’s boss, which told the tweeter to “carefully consider” deleting the link. The reasoning? “The mayor doesn’t like it,” and officials need to be loyal to their employer.
An official, however, should be loyal not only to his employer but also to his field of expertise; in fact, the public organization hired him with taxpayer money specifically for that expertise. When “loyalty” means “support every management decision,” the staff is muzzled and the public lacks the benefit of their professional opinion. There must be the some right to comment on public decisions.
The word loyal comes from the Latin lex ’law’. Does a requirement for loyalty have the effect of a law that unduly limits freedom of speech?