Your Right to Petition the Government
Thursday, December 1, 2016(National Federation of Federal Employees)
Under the 1st Amendment to the
Constitution, citizens of the United States
have the right to “petition
the government for a redress of
grievances.” Citizens do not lose their
Constitutional rights when they become
employees of the federal government. Congress
has further protected those rights under 5
U.S.C. 7211, which states “the right of
employees, individually or collectively, to
petition Congress or a member of Congress . . .
may not
be interfered with or denied.”
As employee representatives, we are
always careful to ensure that we do not ask you
to do something that violates law or
regulation. We caution employees not to contact
Congress using a government computer and not to
forward emails asking others to contact
Congress to a government email address. This is
to make sure employees are fully compliant with
“anti-lobbying” statutes that are arguably
applicable to such
activities.
The Hatch Act is frequently confused
with “anti-lobbying” statutes, but the two
are very different. The Hatch Act prohibits
certain activities related to partisan
political elections. It has nothing to do
with lobbying, or, as the 1st Amendment
and 5 U.S.C. 7211 address, with
petitioning your government for a redress of
your grievances. To make sure of this, we
contacted the Office of Special Counsel
(OSC, responsible for enforcement of the
Hatch Act) for an advisory opinion during the
successful 2012 petition drive to make
temporary seasonal firefighters eligible for
federal health insurance coverage. OSC said
that the Hatch Act “would not
prohibit U.S. Forest Service employees from
advocating for a nonpartisan issue... When
participating in such nonpartisan advocacy, we
caution that you should not engage in any
fundraising for a candidate, party, or
political organization and, if any activities
occur while on duty or in a federal building,
to avoid anything that is directed at a
partisan candidate, political party, or
partisan organization.” See http://www.change.org/petitions/give-health-care-to-firefighters-who-battle-wildfires
for the opinion in its entirety (scroll down
past the petition text).
Although the Hatch Act does not apply to advocacy on non-partisan issues, “anti-lobbying” statutes such as 18 U.S.C. 1913 may apply. These statutes prohibit the “use of appropriated funds” to influence Congress or the public. It is unclear whether these statutes affect your rights under 5 U.S.C. 7211, but at the very least they do not prohibit your right to speak or lobby as a private citizen (on your own time and your own dime), including signing a petition, sending a letter, or calling a Congressional office on a non-partisan issue that affects your workplace. And, unlike the Hatch Act, they do not place any restrictions on where you may do so.