City Makes Gossip Punishable Offense
July 19, 2001 8:14 am EST
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Rumor, the great ill born from small beginnings, has been banned among municipal employees in the Brazilian city of Cascavel, the city councilman who drafted the law said on Wednesday.
Public servants who gossip may now face official reprimands, obligatory professional sensitivity training and even suspension or dismissal in certain cases.
"Public employees have moral rights such as the right to work in a professional environment. The law merely helps define this. So, if someone unjustly accuses or spreads rumors that cause injury or harm to another, it will be punishable under the idea of professional moral integrity," said the law's sponsor Councilman Alcebiades Pereira da Silva.
A 16-year employee of the city, Silva said he drafted the law as part of a project to promote moral integrity of mayoral administrations that have in the past persecuted public workers left over from previous city governments.
July 19, 2001 8:14 am EST
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Rumor, the great ill born from small beginnings, has been banned among municipal employees in the Brazilian city of Cascavel, the city councilman who drafted the law said on Wednesday.
Public servants who gossip may now face official reprimands, obligatory professional sensitivity training and even suspension or dismissal in certain cases.
"Public employees have moral rights such as the right to work in a professional environment. The law merely helps define this. So, if someone unjustly accuses or spreads rumors that cause injury or harm to another, it will be punishable under the idea of professional moral integrity," said the law's sponsor Councilman Alcebiades Pereira da Silva.
A 16-year employee of the city, Silva said he drafted the law as part of a project to promote moral integrity of mayoral administrations that have in the past persecuted public workers left over from previous city governments.