Civil Rights: No Laughing Matter

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Last August the city of Long Branch, N.J. (pop. 30,000), paid $1,500 in damages, plus legal fees, to a black police dispatcher who, a state judge ruled, had suffered "humiliation and anguish" after overhearing racial jokes on the police radio. Says City Attorney Eugene Iadanza: "We can't afford this again." So last week Long Branch forbade its 250 employees from cracking racial, ethnic or sexual jokes on the job. First-time offenders face reprimand, dismissal and up to $2,000 in fines.

The directive was issued after the state's division of civil rights ordered Long Branch police to comply with discrimination laws by punishing employees who intimidate others in the workplace. Though the joke ban raises First Amendment issues, the American Civil Liberties Union has been supportive. Still, Edward Martone, who heads the state's ACLU, admits the ban could be taken too far. Says he: "I'd be willing to represent an employee who was disciplined for telling a Polish joke in private."