Public Employee Dismissal Upheld For Harassment Including Religious Messages

In Leslie v. Johnson, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24064 (SD Ohio, March 14, 2006), an Ohio federal district court rejected a claim by former Ohio Department of Development attorney Mark Leslie that his free exercise rights were infringed when he was dismissed for making unwanted personal advances to fellow employee Karen Banyai and disobeying his supervisors' orders to have no further non-work contact with Banyai. Some of Leslie's unwanted advances to Banyai consisted of sending her religious material and inviting her to participate in various projects sponsored by religious groups. In rejecting Leslie's free exercise claim, the court applied the balancing test that the U.S. Supreme Court developed in Pickering v. Board of Education, for cases involving public employee termination for speaking on matters of public concern.