Agencies often run into other constitutional limitations when regulating or acting as employers. Two additional examples are discussed in this section. The first is the regulation of property. The Fifth Amendment requires governments to provide just compensation when taking property.

Obviously, compensation must be paid when government physically takes property against an owner’s wishes, an authority known as eminent domain. But what constitutes a taking is broader than just actual takings. It is possible that a property’s use or value has been so greatly reduced by regulation that the government’s regulations act as a taking.

Free Speech, protected by the First Amendment, is another right that has been the source of considerable controversy in recent years. The authority of public employers to respond to employee speech is limited by the First Amendment.