The First Amendment only protects you from the federal government. If you post something online that reflects badly on your business, you can get fired. This also applied to businesses. Starbucks said that they supported Black Lives Matter but refused to let their employees wear BLM gear to show support.
Watch today's Morning Musing to hear Reinhard von Hennigs explain.
Transcript:
What is the first amendment? The first amendment protects the freedom of speech, which means that you as a citizen can speak up and the government cannot censor you. Does the first amendment protect you in the private sector in an employee, employer relationship? When you go to work and share your opinion, or even on social media outside of work and you get fired, is this legal? Can you as a company terminate someone who speaks up for a social cause? The quick answer is in the private sector, yes you can.
The first amendment only protects you in relation to the federal government, in private sector employment you can get fired. However, you must be careful because there are repercussions for certain reasons. Your company could face discriminatory backlash if you allow speech on one cause but not another cause.
Starbucks realized this the other day. They banned black lives matter shirts and other memorabilia to be worn by their employees while working. The uproar cited that before this, Starbucks actually encouraged employees to wear LGBTQ+ memorabilia while at work and even provided this memorabilia to the employees to show their support for the cause.
Because of this coming to light, Starbucks is now backpedaling. We won’t know if this is because of a fear of legal action or if it's the right thing to do, but Starbucks is now allowing their employees to wear gear to support the black lives matter movement.
In a nutshell, posting something while working in the private sector may be allowed, firing someone in the private sector may be allowed, but in the end, if you say something that could hurt your business, you can be terminated because the first amendment does not apply to the private sector. So if you are employed by a company and are wondering whether or not to comment on a social issue, at the end it boils down to good taste and how it makes your company look. Also if you are a company and you fire someone for speaking on a social issue, you must factor in how it could make your company look. In the end it is just perception because there are no rules governing free speech in the private world.
#216, June 2020, Private sector, 1st amendment, starbucks, free speech, black lives matter, social issues.
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