Q: Can our employee (on the clock) be asked to leave our public meeting to attend to her job responsibilities?
I am a board member of a public charter school in FL. We are under the Sunshine Law where all meetings are open to the public. I feel this employee is not acting in the capacity of a member of the 'public' while she is at work and on the clock so we have a right to ask her to return to her work. It is her responsibility to present the financial statement to our board at the beginning of our meetings but she refuses to return to her job responsibilities when she has completed the financials. She does not leave the meeting even though she has no further business to conduct with us (and even interrupts our business with her input). Several members feel she has a right to stay because our meetings are open to the 'public' under Sunshine Law. I personally feel she needs to 'clock out' if she wants to stay as a member of the 'public' and follow the proper procedure of giving her opinions at the allotted time for public comment.
A: You are correct. As an employee, she is to do what she is told by her employer; whether that involves reporting the finances to the board or other non-board meeting duties. The Sunshine Law doesn't modify her duties as an employee.
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