Spokane Valley Captain Fired For Religious Emails
The strange case of the Spokane Valley fire captain who refuses to stop sending out religious emails over the department’s email system is back in the news. Captain Jon Sprague was terminated last Monday following his refusal yet again to stop sending religious emails to fellow firefighters.
In 2010 Captain Sprague, who by all accounts is an excellent firefighter, started the Spokane County Christian Firefighter Fellowship group. He then began sending out emails using the department’s email system announcing meetings and events, and posting notices about meetings on the department’s electronic bulletin board. When the department administrators discovered Captain Sprague‘s activities they initially issued him a letter of counseling.
Captain Sprague continued sending out emails and was subsequently disciplined four times, with progressive discipline being imposed starting with reprimands and ending more recently with a suspension for two 24 hour shifts without pay.
His position is that sending the emails is protected by the First Amendment and as a result he has not violated any department rules. Captain Sprague contends that he only sends the emails to a select group of firefighters who had agreed to receive them. The fire department’s position is that sending email for a private purpose constitutes an unlawful use of department resources.
The Spokane Valley Board of Fire Commissioners voted unanimously to terminate Sprague for his continuous defiance of its orders. Captain Sprague is yet to decide whether to appeal his termination with the Civil Service Commission, file a grievance through the union, or file suit. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has started an investigation.
Rich Bruce, vice-president of the IAFF Local 876, said that the city should have considered other discipline options such as a demotion or unpaid leave of absence before terminating Captain Sprague.
It would appear that such a tact would merely delay the inevitable. Captain Sprague deliberately ignored clear orders from his superiors in an effort to provoke a confrontation where his right to use publicly funded infrastructure to push his religious agenda would be squarely in issue. That will inevitably be the issue as the case winds its way through the court system.
If he was a muslum i bet this would have never been addressed at all
i know, its a use of department equipment issue but since it was going to recipients who wanted it (not the entire department) whats the problem?
The problem is that he is using publicly-funded equipment and systems to promote his personal beliefs. Would you have a problem with the Captain doing this if he had been pushing an atheist viewpoint? Or Catholic? Or Jewish? Or Mormon? Or Wiccan? Or Muslim? If you allow one to do it, you must allow ALL to do it. Since ANY mention of religion is bound to offend someone, I don’t blame the Spokane FD for prohibiting all but official business from their email system.
Of course, the biggest problem is that he was told — repeatedly — to knock it off, yet he kept right on going. Thumbing your nose at the boss — for whatever reason — is never a Good Idea.
If he can prove that he was not the only one not sending personal emails, would this help his case? Or ,because of the religious content, this would not matter?
I think Chief Varone has the important part nailed: “Captain Sprague deliberately ignored clear orders from his superiors in an effort to provoke a confrontation where his right to use publicly funded infrastructure to push his religious agenda would be squarely in issue.”
I think the insubordination will sink him. Sprague, that is, not Chief Varone.
I guess i have to accept those responses and should not be so preconcerned with the religious aspect. i do accept that it is a clear case of insubordination
We had a case where an officer wanted to wear a religious symbol on his uniform. The department said ‘no’. They told him as long as he was in civilian cloths the religious symbol would be acceptable, but not in uniform. He pushed the uniform issue, disciplined to termination, ran it up to the Supreme Court, and, if I recall correctly, had the Supreme Court decline to hear the case.
Jim – it would probably help his case if other types of personal emails were being allowed and he was being single out for discipline.
This can get kind of thorny… eg the FD used to allow/tolerate other personal emails but now have shut down all personal use on a going forward basis… Did Sprague’s emails prompt the change? Was that discrimination? Is it OK to allow FD email to be used for secular (non-religious) personal purposes (eg. softball team) but prohibit its use for religious purposes? Not easy questions – when you consider that a statute of Santa Claus can be placed on public property at Christmas but manger scene cannot…
For whatever it might be worth my employer used to allow personal use of the company email, until another entity in the same field got nailed for something, based on archived emails obtained during discovery. As I recall, the emails in question did not deal explicitly with the point at issue but had an indirect bearing. Once the other entity got slapped silly in court, my employer — along with most others in our field — slammed the door on personal use of company emails. In fact, we’re not even allowed to check personal email (Yahoo, Gmail, etc) on company computers, as the company’s server apparently maintains copies of those as well. (Needless to say, I might be off on some of the technical details, I’m not an IT person).
Plain ans simple;
He was told NOT to use the FD Computer to conduct PERSONAL Business.
Go buy one at Best Buy.
But since he didn’t and continued to use the FD Computer he was:
INSUBORDINATE!
Grounds for Termination.
“Stupid is as Stupid Does”..Forest Gump.
Case Closed.