Rights the courts built for you.

As a public employee, you have the right not to be compelled to incriminate yourself by your employer. These rights come from the 1967 Supreme Court decision Garrity v. New Jersey. They apply only to public employees, because you're employed by the government itself.

You don't have to do anything to "invoke" your Garrity rights. They're triggered when you're told that if you don't answer questions during an investigation, you'll be fired (or face "disciplinary action up to and including termination"). The federal government is required to inform you of these rights — often through a document called a Kalkines Warning instead of a Garrity warning, because that requirement rests on the 1973 case Kalkines v. United States.

Garrity rights apply to potential criminal matters, not to administrative discipline. They cover statements only — not actions such as breathalyzer tests, drug tests, or other physical evidence — and they don't cover false statements. They also don't apply to statements you volunteer without being ordered to make them, and they don't protect you from prosecution if the evidence is found some other way.

Thanks to your Loudermill rights, you're entitled to due process before you can be dismissed from your job. These rights come from the 1985 Supreme Court decision Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill.

Generally, they require a public employer to offer a "pre-termination" meeting with the affected employee. At that meeting, the employer presents its grounds for termination and the employee gets the opportunity to respond. These rights are satisfied when you're given a notice of proposed action — such as a notice that management plans to terminate your employment in 30 days. The number of days of advance notice and your appeal rights are protected by law and by our contract.

Your Kalkines rights are more of a warning than a right. You may have a right to immunity from criminal prosecution if you cooperate in an investigation. More often it's phrased in reverse: if you're given immunity from criminal prosecution, you're required to cooperate.

Cooperation doesn't exempt you from administrative or civil actions — only criminal prosecution — so the information could still be used to fire you. If you don't cooperate, you may be fired. You must receive a Kalkines Warning if it applies. The right comes from a Court of Claims decision, Kalkines v. United States, where a federal employee was fired for not cooperating with an internal investigation; the court found he hadn't been sufficiently advised of his immunity to criminal prosecution, nor sufficiently warned that he'd be fired if he refused to cooperate.