A state government worker who alleges he was forced to remove Bible verses, a bumper sticker reading "Marriage: One Man, One Woman" and other religious or political items from the entrance of his office cubicle has sued the California Department of Social Services, claiming the action violated his First Amendment rights.
Enoch Lawrence, a disability evaluation analyst in the department's office in Roseville, near Sacramento, said in his lawsuit a supervisor told him the materials ran afoul of a 2-year-old department policy "prohibiting sexual harassment and unprofessional conduct."
Lawrence received permission to repost the items only if they couldn't be seen by anyone passing his work space, according to the lawsuit. If he put the materials up again in public view, he was told he could be fired for "willful disobedience."
The Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian law firm that has successfully challenged the boundaries separating church from state, is representing Lawrence.
Joshua Carden, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney, said the department's directive was a clear infringement on his client's rights to free speech and freedom of religion because other employees in Lawrence's office were allowed to post religious and political materials in their cubicles.
A spokesman for the Department of Social Services said the agency couldn't comment on the lawsuit. Named as a defendant in Lawrence's lawsuit are department director Rita Saenz and two supervisors.
Carden said items a supervisor removed from Lawrence's cubicle included a sign reading "Jesus Spoken Here," an article entitled "Stop Judicial Tyranny," and an article about former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was removed from office for refusing a court order to move a Ten Commandments monument.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, seeks to reinstate Lawrence's ability to decorate his cubicle as he chooses and to have the department's policy on workplace expression overturned.