Department of Personnel

In light of the upcoming elections, Director of Personnel Rick Frank recently sent a memo to all Civil Service employees reminding them that under the City Charter and the Rules of the Civil Service Commission, Civil Service employees are prohibited from engaging in certain political activity. The prohibitions were adopted to protect employees from the political pressures and influences that could weaken the Civil Service system. They are as follows:

• No person in a competitive position in the classified service shall be under any obligation to contribute money or anything of value to any political fund or to render any political service to any partisan or non-partisan candidate, political fund, political campaign, or other political project against his or her free will.
• No person in a competitive position in the classified service shall solicit contributions for any political party or partisan political campaign or partisan candidate from any person in a competitive position in the classified service.
• No such person shall threaten to use his or her official authority or influence to coerce or influence the political action of any other person.
• No person shall use his or her office, or official time, or City facilities in an active partisan campaign.
• No person shall conduct any active campaign for elective office without first resigning his or her position.
• No person in a competitive position in the classified service shall take an active part in a partisan political campaign, and no such person shall take vacation leave or a leave of absence to work on political campaigns in the manner prohibited by the Rules.
• No person in the classified service shall act as a worker at the polls or phone banks, or distribute badges, bumper stickers, handbills, or other indicia favoring or opposing a candidate for election.

Following are some of the permissible actions an employee in a competitive position in the Civil Service can do but not on duty hours:

• Any employee in a competitive position in the classified service shall have the right to become a member of a political club or organization, and to attend political meetings, and to freely express his or her opinions, short of expressions designed to influence others to cast their vote in a certain way in a partisan election.
• Erecting yard signs on property owned or leased by the employee.
• Affixing bumper stickers to an automobile owned or leased by the employee, provided the automobile is not used while the employee is engaged in official duties.
• Wearing campaign buttons so long as they are not worn while the employee is officially on duty.
• Making a contribution to a political campaign within existing election laws.
• Any employee can participate in non-partisan political campaigns, non-partisan election campaigns for school boards, bond issues, tax measures, constitutional or charter amendments, referendums, initiatives, and petitions in pursuit of such measures.

The penalties for engaging in the activities listed above have been spelled out in Rule XV, Section 5, of the Rules of the Civil Service Commission.

In view of the damaging effects political activity can have on the Civil Service system, you are encouraged to report any inappropriate political activity to the Department of Personnel at (314) 622-3563.

 

Department of Personnel

City of St. Louis