Political Activities On The Job Are Prohibited
You May Run For Political Office
Off-Duty Political Activity Must Not Conflict With Your Job Performance
Off-Duty, You May Be Active In a Political Party
Your Political Opinions Are Your Own Business

Political Activities On The Job Are Prohibitied:

You may not engage in political activities, including political fund-raising, during on-duty hours.

BUT . . .

This does not mean that you are prohibited from expressing an opinion about politics, only that you cannot attempt to persuade or dissuade any other person to be “for” or “against” any candidate or issue while you are in “on-duty” status.

You may not do “outside” political work on state time. Levying, soliciting, collecting, or paying any type of political assessment — or ordering or authorizing such — is prohibited.

You May Run For Political Office:

If you are a classified state employee, and you want to run for a public office — whether that office is partisan or not — you may do so as long as it is done entirely on your own time.

BUT . . .

If you run for the Michigan Legislature, a state executive branch office, or the Michigan Supreme Court or Court of Appeals, you must request and shall be granted an unpaid leave of absence from your classified state job. The leave must start 60 days before the election, or when you complete candidacy filing requirements, whichever comes closest to the date of the election. This applies to both primary and general elections.

ALSO . . .

If you work in a federally funded program, federal law applies — the federal Hatch Act prohibits candidacy for public elective office in a partisan election.

Off-Duty Political Activity Must Not Conflict With Your Job Performance:

When you engage in off-duty political activities, you are exercising basic Constitutional rights which belong to every citizen.

BUT . . .

When you accept a position in the classified state service, you assume an obligation to structure your activities so that there is no conflict with your job. As the Michigan Supreme Court put it: “. . . off-duty political involvement may adversely affect a classified employee’s performance at work. If and when it does, the (Civil Service) Commission is empowered to deal with such circumstances on a case-by-case basis.”

Off-Duty, You May Be Activie In A Political Party:

Until the 1980 Supreme Court ruling, state classified employees were prohibited from holding any office within the hierarchy of a political party — for example, you could not be a delegate to a political party convention, you could not serve on a political party committee, you could not be a county chairperson, and so forth.

Now, a classified state employee may hold a party office — again, keeping in mind provisions relating to performance on the job.

ALSO . . .

The federal Hatch Act specifically permits employees in federally funded programs to take an active part in political party activities

Your Political Opinions Are Your Own Business:

Whether you express them or not, your political views are strictly your own personal affair, and you cannot be advanced or held back on the job because of them.

BUT . . .

It is also improper for you or any other public employee — directly or indirectly — to pressure anyone else for a political contribution, and violations are subject to punishment by law.

ALSO . . .

The Michigan Civil Service Commission wants to know about improper political activities, political solicitation, or political “pressure” in the state classified workplace. If you believe the Commission’s political activities rules are being violated, you may come forward through the Office of the State Personnel Director, and the Commission will look into the matter.

Your rights as a citizen, and your privacy, are matters of concern to the Commission.