Discussion 1 520

may2025

Chapter31.pdf

Home >Applied Sciences homework help >Discussion 1 520

Justice Administration: Police,

Courts, and Corrections Management

Tenth Edition

Chapter 3

Rights of Criminal Justice Employees

Overview (1 of 3)

• Law and litigation can arise out of federal and state constitutions, statutes, administrative regulations, and judicial

interpretations and rulings.

• Fair Labor Standards Act: Provides minimum salary and

overtime provisions for both public- and private-sector employees.

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Prohibits

discrimination in the hiring process, working conditions and the unlawful provision of benefits based on race, color, religion,

sex, and national origin.

– Also extends to hostile work environment.

• Equal Pay Act: Prevents sex-based discrimination in wages and benefits when men and women do similar work.

Overview (2 of 3)

• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978: Prohibits

unequal treatment of women because of pregnancy or

related medical conditions (e.g., nausea).

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act: Generally

prohibits the unequal treatment of applicants or

employees based on their age, if they are age 40 years or

older, in regard to hiring, firing, receiving benefits, and

other conditions of employment.

• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: The goal of

this legislation is to remove barriers that might prevent

otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities from

enjoying the same employment opportunities as persons

without disabilities.

Overview (3 of 3)

• Section 1983: This major piece of legislation is the

instrument by which an employee may sue an employer

for civil rights violations based on the deprivation of

constitutional rights.

• Remedies that can affect public-sector employees:

– Tort actions

– Contractual claims

Recruitment and Hiring

• Tests are commonly used to determine intelligence,

emotional suitability and stability, physical agility, and

character.

• Drug tests are frequently used as well.

• The critical question for these tests is whether they validly

test the types of skills needed for the job.

• A companion concern is whether the tests are used for

discriminatory purposes or have an unequal impact on

protected groups.

• A number of private companies provide valid, reliable

examinations for use by the public sector.

Disparate Treatment

• Treating people differently because of their age, gender,

sex, or other protected status is illegal.

• Federal equal opportunity law prohibits the use of

selection procedures for hiring or promotion that have a

discriminatory impact on the employment opportunities of

women, people of color, or other protected classes.

• Bona fide occupational qualifier (B F O Q):

– In certain situations, a rationale for discriminating on

the basis of a business necessity.

– There may be a "business justification" for hiring

policies even though they have a disparate impact.

How Old Is “Too Old” in Criminal

Justice?

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act (A D E A) held that

age should not be a B F O Q because youthfulness is not a

guarantee of public safety.

– A physical fitness standard would better serve the

purpose of ensuring the ability to perform the tasks of

the position.

• Congress exempted federal employees from application

of the A D E A.

• However, the Supreme Court ruled that another agency

cannot adopt the same standards without showing an

agency-specific need.

Criminal Justice and Affirmative

Action

• Affirmative action:

– Actions or policies that favor persons or groups who have experienced discrimination, particularly in employment or

education.

– Quotas have been at the center of legal, social, scientific,

and political controversy for more than four decades.

– In general, affirmative action plans give preferred treatment only to affected groups when all other criteria are equal.

• Reverse discrimination:

– The argument that affirmative action policies have resulted

in unfair treatment for members of majority groups.

– Key legal question: When does preferential hiring become

reverse discrimination?

Property Rights in Employment (1 of 2)

• The Fourteenth Amendment provides in part:

– "... nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or

property without due process of law ..."

• Supreme Court outlined 4 elements of a due process claim under

Section 1983:

1. Person acting under color of state law

2. Deprived an individual

3. Of constitutionally protected property

4. Without due process of law

• Courts have established the legal view that public employees have a

property interest in their employment (as opposed to the old view that

employees served "at will“).

Property Rights in Employment (2 of 2)

• Property right in employment:

– Positions that individuals have for which there must be

some demonstrated cause for termination (as opposed

to an individual in an “at will” position).

• Employees are entitled to both a pre-termination hearing

and a post-termination notice, as well as an opportunity to

respond.

• However, a probationary employee has little or no

property interest in employment.

• Policymaking employees are generally exempted from

such protections.

Pay and Benefits

• Fair Labor Standards Act (F L S A) - “the C J administrator’s worst nightmare”:

– Establishes minimum wages and requires overtime

compensation in the private sector and to state and local

government employees.

– The F L S A comes into play when overtime salaries must be paid.

• Equal pay for equal work is another issue.

– Disparate treatment in pay and benefits can be litigated

under Title VII or statutes such as the Equal Pay Act or

the equal protection clause.

• C J employee benefits are also addressed in Title VII, the

A D E A, and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (P D A).

Criminal Justice and a Safe

Workplace

• Federal, state, and local governments are exempted from

the coverage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act

(O S H A).

• Nonetheless, criminal justice work is often dangerous: it

involves the use of force and often occurs in places

outside governmental control.

• Liability for an employee’s injury, disability, or death is a

critical concern for C J agencies.

– Civil tort actions in these cases can have a devastating

impact on governmental budgets.

Freedom of Speech and Association (1 of 3)

• Many criminal justice executives have attempted to

regulate what their employees say to the public.

• Executives develop and rely on policies and procedures

designed to govern employee speech.

• The Supreme Court held that: "the State has interests as

an employer in regulating the speech of its employees

that differ significantly from those it possesses in

connection with regulation of the speech of the citizenry in

general.“

• The state may impose restrictions on its employees that it

cannot impose on the citizenry at large – but these

restrictions must be reasonable.

Freedom of Speech and Association (2 of 3)

• Two basic situations in which a police regulation may be found to be an unreasonable infringement on the free speech

interests of officers:

– When the action is overly broad.

– When the free speech limitations are unreasonable in the

way in which the governmental action is applied.

• The most protected type of speech is political speech.

– However, governmental agencies may restrict the political behavior of their employees.

– The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of laws

that do so.

• The Hatch Act limits partisan political activities by governmental

employees.

Freedom of Speech and Association (3 of 3)

• It is a violation of the employees' First Amendment rights

to discharge them from non-policymaking positions solely

on the basis of their political party affiliation.

• Nonpolitical associations are also protected by the First

Amendment.

• Police departments commonly prohibit officers from

associated with known felons.

– Rules against association must not be overly broad.

• Police administrators have the constitutional authority to

regulate employees’ off-duty associational activities.

Searches and Seizures

• The Fourth Amendment protects "the right of the people to

be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,

against unreasonable searches and seizures."

• The Fourth Amendment usually applies to police officers

when they are at home or off duty in the same manner as

it applies to all citizens.

• Police officers can be compelled to cooperate with

investigations of their behavior.

– Examples include appearing in a lineup as well as

searches of department equipment and lockers.

Self-Incrimination

• In Garrity v. New Jersey, the Court held that the

information coerced from an officer could not be used

against them at their criminal trial because the Fifth

Amendment forbids the use of coerced confessions.

• It is proper to fire a police officer who refuses to answer

questions if the officer has been informed that any

answers may not be used later in a criminal proceeding.

• The majority of lower courts that have considered the

question have held that an officer can be required to

submit to a polygraph examination.

Religious Practices

• It is generally assumed that someone who takes a

criminal justice position agrees to work odd shifts and to

abide by other various unpleasant conditions.

– Generally, personnel with the least seniority on the job

must work the most undesirable shifts.

• Occasionally the job and one's religious beliefs are in

direct conflict.

– Employees may be forced to choose between their job

and religion.

– A number of people have chosen to litigate the work–

religion conflict rather than accept agency demands.

– Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits

religious discrimination in employment.

Sexual Misconduct

• Instances of sexual impropriety in criminal justice work

can range from casual flirting while on the job to becoming

romantically involved with a foreign agent whose principal

aim is to learn delicate matters of national security.

• There have been all manner of incidents between those

extremes, including the discipline of police officers who

posed nude in magazines.

• Some major police departments have even been

compelled by their mayors to recruit officers for their

sexual orientation.

• Departments try to maintain high standards of officer

conduct while officers litigate because they believe their

right to privacy has been intruded upon.

Residency Requirements

• Many governmental agencies now specify that all or certain employees must live within the city or county of employment.

• Justifications for residency requirements:

– Employees should become familiar with and be visible in

the jurisdiction of employment.

– Employees should live where they are paid by the

taxpayers to work.

– C J employees must live within a certain proximity of their work in order to respond quickly in the event of an

emergency.

• Arguments have been made that in areas where housing is

unavailable or exceptionally expensive, a residency requirement is unreasonable.

Moonlighting

• The courts have traditionally supported criminal justice

agencies placing limitations on the amount and kind of

outside work their employees can perform.

• The rationale is that "outside employment seriously

interferes with keeping the [police and fire] departments fit

and ready for action at all times.”

Misuse of Firearms

• Police are empowered to use lethal force when justified.

• Police agencies generally have policies regulating the use

of firearms by officers, both on and off duty.

• The courts have held that such regulations need only be

reasonable.

• Police firearms regulations tend to address three basic

issues:

1. Requirements for the safeguarding of the weapon.

2. Guidelines for carrying the weapon while off duty.

3. Limitations on when the weapon may be fired.

• Courts/juries becoming harsher in dealing with officers

who misuse their firearms.

Alcohol and Drugs in the Workplace

• Criminal justice employees must be able to perform their

work with a clear head, unaffected by alcohol or drugs.

• Police departments and prisons will often specify in their

manual of policy and procedures that no alcoholic

beverages be consumed within a specified period prior to

reporting for duty.

Drug Testing

• Three of the most controversial drug-testing issues have

been:

– Whether testing should be permitted when there is no

indication of a drug problem in the workplace

– Whether the testing methods are reliable

– Whether a positive test proves on-the-job impairment

Rights of Police Officers (1 of 3)

• Police officers have insisted on greater procedural

safeguards to protect themselves against what they

perceive as arbitrary infringement on their rights.

• Peace Officers Bill of Rights (P O B R):

– Legislation mandating due process rights for peace

officers who are the subject of internal investigations

that could lead to disciplinary action.

Rights of Police Officers (2 of 3)

• Some common provisions of state P O B R legislation

include:

– Written notice: the officer must be given written notice

of the nature of the investigation, summary of alleged

misconduct, and name of the investigating officer.

– Right to representation: the officer may have an

attorney or a representative of the officer’s choosing

present during any phase of questioning/hearing.

– Polygraph examination: the officer may refuse to

take a polygraph examination unless the complainant

submits to an examination and is found to be telling

the truth.

Rights of Police Officers (3 of 3)

• Police officers today are more likely to file a grievance

when they believe their rights have been violated.

• Grievances may cover a broad range of issues, including:

– Salaries, overtime, leave, hours of work, allowances,

retirement, opportunity for advancement, performance

evaluations, workplace conditions, tenure, disciplinary

actions, supervisory methods, and administrative

practices.

• The preferred method for settling officer grievances is

through informal discussion.

Workplace Harassment (1 of 3)

• Unwelcome verbal or physical conduct (whether or not of

a sexual nature) that creates a hostile work environment,

or a change in an employment status or benefits.

• Harassment is a form of discrimination violating the Civil

Rights Act of 1964 and other federal laws.

• Unwelcome behavior constitutes harassment when:

– The conduct is sufficiently severe to create a hostile

work environment, or

– A supervisor’s harassing conduct results in a change

in employment status or benefits.

Workplace Harassment (2 of 3)

• Hostile work environment occurs when unwelcome comments or conduct based on sex, race, or other legally protected

characteristics unreasonably interferes with an employee’s

work performance or creates an offensive work environment.

• A claim of harassment generally requires that:

– The complaining party be a member of a statutorily protected class and was subjected to unwelcome verbal or

physical conduct.

– The unwelcome conduct complaint is based on the

complaining party’s membership in that protected class.

– The unwelcome conduct affected a term or condition of employment and unreasonably interfered with the

complaining party’s work performance.

Workplace Harassment (3 of 3)

• Police supervisors and managers must be vigilant of

sexually related improprieties, including:

– Nonsexual contacts that are sexually motivated

– Voyeuristic contacts

– Contacts with crime victims

– Contacts with offenders

– Contacts with juvenile offenders

– Sexual shakedowns

– Citizen-initiated sexual contacts

L G B T Q Rights in the Workplace

• The Supreme Court has ruled that an individual cannot be

fired for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 will now protect employees

from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or

gender identity, even in those states that have no legal

protection for L G B T Q+ employees.

F M L A: Eligibility Requirements

• Family Medical Leave Act (F M L A) entitles eligible employees to take

up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period

for specified family and medical reasons.

• To be eligible for F M L A benefits, an employee must:

– Work for a covered employer, and

– Have worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months, and

have worked at least 1,250 hours during that time.

• F M L A allows unpaid leave:

– For the birth and care of a newborn child of the employee.

– For placement with the employee of a child for adoption or child

care.

– To care for an immediate family member with a serious health

condition.

– To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work

because of a serious health condition.

F M L A: Amendments to the Act

• 2009 and 2010 amendments created new categories of

leave designed to ease hardships on military families:

– Qualifying exigency leave

– Military caregiver leave

• In 2013, in U.S. v. Windsor, the Supreme Court ensured

that the F M L A affords spouses in same-sex marriages the

same ability as all spouses to fully exercise their F M L A

rights.

The Americans with Disabilities Act

• Criminal justice agencies may not discriminate against

qualified individuals with disabilities in recruitment, hiring,

and promotion practices.

• A person has a disability if they have a mental or physical

impairment that substantially limits a major life activity,

such as walking, talking, breathing, sitting, standing, or

learning.

• Employers must provide reasonable accommodation to

people with disabilities, which can include modifying

existing facilities to make them accessible, job

restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules,

acquiring or modifying equipment, and changing policies.

• Blanket exclusions of individuals with a particular disability

are, in most cases, impermissible.

Break Time for Nursing Mothers

• The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

encouraged employers to provide break time for nursing

mothers to express milk in “a place, other than a

bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from

intrusion from coworkers and the public.”

• All employers covered by F M L A are required to provide

such breaks.

• Employers are not required to compensate employees for

these breaks, unless they are already compensated by

the employer.

Addressing Grooming and

Appearance: Employers’ Rights (1 of 2)

• Dress codes and appearances:

– Grooming and tattoos with Millennials is posing

challenges to C J administrators.

– Kelley v. Johnson still remains intact and

administrators are free to determine that body

modifications create an unprofessional appearance.

Addressing Grooming and

Appearance: Employers’ Rights (2 of 2)

• Dress code: a set of rules, usually written as policy,

specifying the required manner of dress and appearance

for employees in an organization.

• New generations entering the labor market are bringing

new views with respect to workers’ appearance.

• Criminal justice administrators have long been able to

regulate officers’ appearance – this was upheld by the

Supreme Court in Kelley v. Johnson.

• Most agencies have general orders or policies constituting

a dress code.

Addressing Grooming and

Appearance: Employees’ Rights

• Tattooing is an increasing sticking point within the realm

of dress codes.

• 40% of millennials have at least one tattoo.

• As tattoos become more socially acceptable, it is more

difficult for C J administrators to take a totally anti-tattoo

position.

• We may be approaching a point where treating

employees differently because of their tattoos will be

illegal.

• However, Kelley v. Johnson remains intact, and

administrators are free to determine that body

modifications create an unprofessional appearance.

This work is protected by United States copyright laws and is

provided solely for the use of instructors in teaching their

courses and assessing student learning. Dissemination or sale

of any part of this work (including on the World Wide Web) will

destroy the integrity of the work and is not permitted. The work

and materials from it should never be made available to

students except by instructors using the accompanying text in

their classes. All recipients of this work are expected to abide by

these restrictions and to honor the intended pedagogical

purposes and the needs of other instructors who rely on these

materials.

Slide 1: Justice Administration: Police, Courts, and Corrections Management
Slide 2: Overview (1 of 3)
Slide 3: Overview (2 of 3)
Slide 4: Overview (3 of 3)
Slide 5: Recruitment and Hiring
Slide 6: Disparate Treatment
Slide 7: How Old Is “Too Old” in Criminal Justice?
Slide 8: Criminal Justice and Affirmative Action
Slide 9: Property Rights in Employment (1 of 2)
Slide 10: Property Rights in Employment (2 of 2)
Slide 11: Pay and Benefits
Slide 12: Criminal Justice and a Safe Workplace
Slide 13: Freedom of Speech and Association (1 of 3)
Slide 14: Freedom of Speech and Association (2 of 3)
Slide 15: Freedom of Speech and Association (3 of 3)
Slide 16: Searches and Seizures
Slide 17: Self-Incrimination
Slide 18: Religious Practices
Slide 19: Sexual Misconduct
Slide 20: Residency Requirements
Slide 21: Moonlighting
Slide 22: Misuse of Firearms
Slide 23: Alcohol and Drugs in the Workplace
Slide 24: Drug Testing
Slide 25: Rights of Police Officers (1 of 3)
Slide 26: Rights of Police Officers (2 of 3)
Slide 27: Rights of Police Officers (3 of 3)
Slide 28: Workplace Harassment (1 of 3)
Slide 29: Workplace Harassment (2 of 3)
Slide 30: Workplace Harassment (3 of 3)
Slide 31: L G B T Q Rights in the Workplace
Slide 32: F M L A: Eligibility Requirements
Slide 33: F M L A: Amendments to the Act
Slide 34: The Americans with Disabilities Act
Slide 35: Break Time for Nursing Mothers
Slide 36: Addressing Grooming and Appearance: Employers’ Rights (1 of 2)
Slide 37: Addressing Grooming and Appearance: Employers’ Rights (2 of 2)
Slide 38: Addressing Grooming and Appearance: Employees’ Rights
Slide 39: Copyright