Is it lawful for a governmental employer in North Carolina to ask a job applicant about arrests and convictions?  Is it lawful for the employer to do a criminal background check on job applicants?  The answer to both questions is … Read more

Here are two terms that people get mixed up all the time:  “employment at will” and “right to work.”  Is North Carolina an employment-at-will state?  Yes.  Is North Carolina a right-to-work state?  Yes.  But those two terms do not mean … Read more

There is reason to believe that an employee of the city has broken into a pharmacy to steal prescription drugs.  There are reports that a public school teacher has touched female students in a terribly inappropriate way.  It appears that … Read more

This guy is a bad employee.  His work is poor.  His conduct around other people is objectionable.  You (that is, the city or the county or other public employer) would be better off without him. You could just fire him.  … Read more

Here’s an idea that many people in local government in North Carolina cling to:  the names of applicants for governmental jobs are confidential.  It’s a very handy idea.  It allows a manager in a small county to apply for the … Read more

UPDATE November 2013: The 2013 General Assembly enacted new voter identification requirements, including the requirement that voters to show photo identification, beginning in 2016.  See this Coates Canon post:  2013—A Year of Election Law Changes. UPDATE February 2017:  In July … Read more

North Carolina governmental employers regularly have this question when they are hiring:  do we have to advertise this position? Maybe they already have in mind someone for the job, perhaps someone already working within the organization. Must they go through … Read more

UPDATE November 2013: Americans Elect did not prove to be a viable political party and failed to qualify for continued recognition in North Carolina. No doubt you can name the two biggest political parties officially recognized in North Carolina: just … Read more

Here is a question that came to me from a North Carolina public employer not too long ago.  An employee regularly includes “Put Your Faith in the Lord” as part of his closing on emails, whether the emails are to … Read more

Where to put the new landfill?  The county commissioners are feeling the pressure.  The site in the east will upset the folks in the Eastville area, and the site in the west will upset the Westoners.  One commissioner has an … Read more