Where Free Speech Goes to Die: The Workplace

[Will E Worm]

Where Free Speech Goes to Die: The Workplace



In America you can say pretty much whatever you want, wherever you want to say it. Unless, that is, you’re at work. Simply put, there is no First Amendment right to “free speech” in the workplace—potentially perilous for many employees in a polarized political year with a tight presidential race.

Current news provides plenty of examples of just how much leeway managers have to limit their workers’ freedom of speech, or to encourage political activity among employees. On Aug. 2, an Arizona-based medical supplies manufacturer, Vante, dismissed CFO Adam Smith for berating a Tucson Chick-fil-A employee for working at what he considered a homophobic company. Chick-fil-A has made national headlines recently for its president’s controversial comments about same-sex marriage.

“I don’t know how you live with yourself and work here,” Smith says in a video of the exchange, which was posted on YouTube (GOOG). “This is a horrible corporation with horrible values. You deserve better.” Vante quickly fired Smith, and posted its regrets about the incident in a statement on the home page of its website.

Bosses and those who work under them are not equal when it comes to free-speech legal claims. Employers have the right to take action against any employee who engages in political speech that company leaders find offensive. With a few narrow exceptions the Constitution and the federal laws derived from it only protect a person’s right to expression from government interference, not from the restrictions a private employer may impose, lawyers say.

Employers are not similarly restricted in expressing their political views or encouraging support for a particular candidate or cause. Not only can employers remind employees of the upcoming election and encourage them to vote, but they can base continued employment on whether a worker agrees to contribute money or time to the boss’s favorite political candidate, so long as there’s no state law prohibiting it. (Eight states and the District of Columbia have laws protecting employees from such mandates.)

Consider the case of David Siegel, founder of Orlando (Fla.)-based Westgate Resorts, the nation’s biggest time-share developer and the man behind what is planned to be the largest house in America. In February, Siegel told Bloomberg Businessweek that his efforts were largely responsible for the 2000 election of President George W. Bush. “I’m not bragging, I’m just stating the fact: I personally got George W. Bush elected,” he said. “I had my managers do a survey on every employee. If they liked Bush, we made them register to vote. But not if they liked Gore.” Siegel also said his company’s call center made 80,000 calls on behalf of Bush’s campaign.

While federal statutes such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, and the National Labor Relations Act limit companies’ rights to fire or hire workers and prevent them from joining unions, these restrictions are based only on race, religion, ethnicity, sex, age, and a few other protected categories. Political opinion isn’t protected by any of these statutes.

“The First Amendment applies only to employees of the government in certain situations, and all citizens when they’re confronted by the government,” says Mark Trapp, an employment lawyer with Epstein Baker Green in Chicago. “In other words, freedom to speak your mind doesn’t really exist in work spaces.”

It’s a limitation that retired Air Force Colonel Morris Davis knows well. The former prosecutor of the Guantanamo Bay military commissions, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, resigned over what he perceived as systematic mistreatment and abuse of prisoners by U.S. soldiers at the detention camp. After taking a job with the Library of Congress, he was fired in late 2009 for refusing to recant the contents of pieces published in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post criticizing the Obama administration’s failure to close the prison.

“I was shocked to see the limits of the First Amendment,” Morris says. “We like to think that our rights are carved in granite, but instead it turns out they’re carved in sand.” Morris now teaches law at Howard University; the American Civil Liberties Union has sued the Library of Congress seeking Morris’s reinstatement.

However, there are valid reasons an employer would restrict political speech, beyond assuring a productive work site or suppressing opinions contrary to management. Chief among them: a fear of lawsuits alleging that an employer permitted a hostile work environment, and the risk of having to pay damages.

John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, a conservative legal organization, says employers are too quick to fire people over any statement with which managers disagree. “Americans now are not generally advocates of free speech, which really is not good,” Whitehead says. “Someone says anything that an employer or government official doesn’t like, and they’re gone.”

The bottom line is pretty simple: Be satisfied with talk at work that doesn’t offend colleagues or anger the boss. “The Constitution operates as a restriction on government, not private employers,” Trapp says. “An employee would do well to keep this in mind before shooting off her mouth at the workplace.”

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Fired for Freedom of Speech Link






Freedom of speech applies every where in America, like it or not.

Firing someone for their views and for any reason is unconstitutional.

It's only this bad now because people will not stand up for themselves and their fellow Americans. :nono:

 

[xfire]

Firing someone for their views and for any reason is unconstitutional.

Interesting statement from someone of your political persuasion.

 

[Mayhem]

Freedom of speech applies every where in America, like it or not.

Firing someone for their views and for any reason is unconstitutional.

It's only this bad now because people will not stand up for themselves and their fellow Americans. :nono:

Well, you're wrong. The Constitution doesn't come into play.

Which side were you on when Ice-T released "Copkiller"?

 

[Will E Worm]

Well, you're wrong. The Constitution doesn't come into play.

Which side were you on when Ice-T released "Copkiller"?

I am correct. :tongue: The Constitution does not have an exception for the workplace. It's freedom of speech in America, in all places.
Like it or not, commie!

Ice-T's side.

 

[Johan]

Freedom of speech is banned from the media : if you swear it will be censured or you will be sanctionned by the producer of the show

 

[meesterperfect]

rule of thumb, dont discuss politics or religion in the workplace.

 

[Will E Worm]

rule of thumb, dont discuss politics or religion in the workplace.

That takes the fun out of it.

Someone has to bring it up.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

I am correct. :tongue: The Constitution does not have an exception for the workplace. It's freedom of speech in America, in all places.
Like it or not, commie!

Uh, no.

The Constitution is a contract between the government and it's people. The First Amendment states that congress shall pass no law restricting Free Speech. The First Amendment doesn't govern private affairs because the Constitution doesn't govern private affairs.

I find it somewhat laughable that so many people try and tell everyone how important they think the Constitution is, or how they "know" their rights... yet they have a very fundamental misunderstanding what the document is about, and how it works and is applied.

 

[Will E Worm]

Uh, no.

:tongue:

Your employer does not have the right to take away your rights.

Not ever and anyone who lets them are farm animals.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

Your employer does not have the right to take away your rights.

Can't take away what you don't have.

You don't have any right to free speech in the work place. Never have. Never will. Were never supposed to.

That's not how the Constitution is meant to work. As a document it's main purpose is to spell out the powers of, and restrictions on, the federal government. It has very little to do with your employer beyond being the framework around which the government can craft laws which regulate the workplace.

 

[Will E Worm]

Can't take away what you don't have.

You don't have any right to free speech in the work place. Never have. Never will. Were never supposed to.

That's not how the Constitution is meant to work. As a document it's main purpose is to spell out the powers of, and restrictions on, the federal government. It has very little to do with your employer beyond being the framework around which the government can craft laws which regulate the workplace.

Go away now, back to Russia with you.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

Go away now, back to Russia with you.

My God. That's not a response. Seriously, you don't know how the Constitution works, what it's purpose it, or what it's even supposed to do.

If you're going to champion the thing you should probably read it first.

 

[Jeep!]

I don't know about you guys, but most people have a contract with their employer setting out what they can/can't do on both sides. A lot of employees look at it simply as a means of ensuring their wage and working hours but it'll also have provisions for what is and isn't tolerated in the workplace. By signing it, you have agreed that its terms are something you're going to abide by and your employment is the collateral--breach the contract, many of which will explicitly state that X, Y and Z are not tolerated (usually racism/sexism/harassment but there's room for basically anything to be specified. The third-to-last paragraph of the quoted article outlines why this particular instance of abeyance can be worthwhile) and your employer is able to "claim" the collateral, ending your employment. Rights to freedom of speech don't come into it because by signing a contract agreeing not to speak about something in the workplace and then breaking it, you can't claim your rights supersede the terms of your agreement.

 

[Will E Worm]

My God. That's not a response. Seriously, you don't know how the Constitution works, what it's purpose it, or what it's even supposed to do.

If you're going to champion the thing you should probably read it first.

Rights to freedom of speech don't come into it because by signing a contract agreeing not to speak about something in the workplace and then breaking it, you can't claim your rights supersede the terms of your agreement.

Mostly this was about getting fired for doing something while not at work, youtube videos, comments online, political views, and so forth.
Click the link in my original post and you will see.

They are trying to pass a law now so employees can discus their salaries with each other.

A law I I hope passes soon.

 

[Will E Worm]

You Have The Right To Discuss Salary With Coworkers


Many people who are trying to figure out whether they've been the victim of discrimination miss an obvious way to find out how much coworkers are making: asking them. Some employers try to prevent this by putting in handbooks or contracts a provision prohibiting salary discussions among coworkers. Those employers are, for the most part, breaking the law.

If you work for a non-government employer and aren't a supervisor or management, you likely have the absolute right to discuss your salary, benefits and other working conditions with your coworkers.


The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects employees who engage in concerted activity to improve working conditions. That means you can discuss pay and benefits with coworkers and the employer is not allowed to punish you for doing so.

Before you defy management directives and start discreetly asking trusted coworkers to exchange salary information, you should make sure you aren't exempt from this law. While the vast majority of non-government employers are covered, some are exempt. Independent contractors and supervisors are exempt. But many people classified as contractors are misclassified and are really employees. You may be protected even if you think you aren't.

If your company has an illegal policy or contract saying you can't discuss salary with coworkers, one option is to report them to the NLRB. Cases saying these prohibitions are illegal have been around way before the current issue arose about the current NLRB's makeup, so the fact that these policies are illegal won't change, no matter how optimistic employer organizations get. Even if you haven't been fired based on an illegal policy, you can file a complaint and NLRB may force your employer to change their evil ways.

If you think you're the victim of discrimination, one way to prove it is to prove you're paid less than others in a different category than you. Don't write off the easiest way to find out if you're paid unfairly. Go ahead. Take a coworker to lunch. Ask. You Might be surprised by what you find out.

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