Court: Port Authority violating employees’ rights,
Workers can wear masks with slogans
Port Authority is violating the free-speech rights of bus drivers and other employees by prohibiting them from wearing masks that say, “Black lives matter,” a U.S. District Court judge ruled Tuesday.
In a 45-page opinion, Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan granted a request for a preliminary injunction from Local 85 of the Amalgamated Transit Union to stop the authority from barring the masks. The union sued last fall after the agency initially tried to discipline employees for wearing the masks then changed its policy to require workers to wear only masks issued by the authority.
The authority claimed its uniform policy prohibited workers from making social or political statements. Those statements could be disruptive in the workplace with other employees and in public if riders disagreed with statements on the masks, it said.
Judge Ranjan disagreed. “In sum, the Court sympathizes with the Port Authority’s good-faith desire to maintain a safe and productive workplace,” the judge wrote. “But the vast majority of the employee speech it has banned here — including its effective ban on ‘Black Lives Matter’ masks — would not materially undermine that goal.
“Moreover, any of the
truly disruptive behavior that the Port Authority fears can be readily deterred and dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and likely using nonspeech-based means.”
Attorney Joseph J. Pass, who represents the union, said he was delighted with
the decision.
“You can say we are pleased the judge recognized this is America where we have free speech rights and [masks with slogans] should be allowed,” he said.
Port Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph said the agency had no comment on the decision.
The issue has caused some division at the authority. One of the employees who wore a Black Lives Matter mask, Sascha Craig, said Tuesday he was fired Nov. 12, two days after he testified against the agency about the mask issue.
Mr. Craig, who trains drivers, said he was called in on a Saturday to train a driver who had been on sick leave. Although he worked only about four hours, he put in for a full day’s pay, which his boss told him to do and has long been the agency’s practice.
The department manager accused Mr. Craig of falsifying his time card and fired him. The union filed a grievance, and Mr. Pass said the case will go to arbitration.