Can You Get Fired For Your Political Beliefs?

Can you get fired for your political beliefs? The simple answer is yes. But Like most issues of our times, it is not that straightforward. Under certain circumstances, you can be legally fired by your employer because of issues concerning political beliefs. With nice things like The First Amendment, inclusivity, diversity, equity etc at the forefront of our civil discourse, understandably, most Americans would believe that they are protected from discrimination based on political beliefs in their place of work but that is simply not the case. Federal laws do not protect you and state laws are ambiguous at best. The truth is that in most cases if your employer can prove that your expressed beliefs are harmful to their business. That is it you are fired!

Can You Get Fired For Your Political Beliefs

Federal and State Laws

The protection offered by the government extends only to actions taken by the government and in terms of workplace discrimination, it covers only public workers at the federal, state and local government levels. So in essence no federal law prevents you from being fired at your workplace by a private employer based on your political beliefs. Different states have varying laws that might affect the legality of such dismissals but they are not all clearly defined and can be subject to long arbitration.

In the absence of any clear federal law, the state you work in has clear effects on the level of protection you get from discriminatory employers. Many states today have laws that offer protection from discrimination and firings based on legal off-work activities that may or may not be political. Another thing to note is that political beliefs and other related concepts have varying definitions from state to state. States like Connecticut, California, New York and DC provides more robust and well-defined laws that protect employees from discriminatory action based on their political beliefs and activities. But even in these states, it is still a tug of war between employers and employees over what counts as political beliefs and activity.

Can The Employer Be Right?

Unless you do certain jobs that involve discussion of public affairs in the public space, most workplaces are not ideal for discussing and sharing political beliefs. In an increasingly polarized society worsened by the political events of the recent years, and hot topics both new and old such as critical race theory, black lives matter, abortion amongst others. People increasingly take an extreme stance on their political beliefs and usually hold others on the opposite end in contempt. Given these conditions, employers will want the workplace to be free of political discourse and conversations as they can rapidly lead to toxicity and tension. 

The truth is the airing of political beliefs can lead to bad blood between people who have been working together in peace and harmony and with mutual respect. Some political beliefs affect divisive social issues such as abortion. Imagine a hypothetical team in a workplace that consists of a pro-choice woman and a pro-life man. This team might be the most productive, efficient and professional in the company with both members having mutual respect. 

But what happens when they discuss a contentious political issue such as abortion and discover they  stand on opposite ends. One or both of them might be a little bit too passionate about their beliefs and spoil the good working relationship in the team. This can affect their output and disrupt workplace dynamics. In some cases, the best solution might be to let one of them go. In this scenario, the affected employee might claim to have been relieved of their duty because of their political belief, while in actuality it might be because of the toxicity created by their intolerance of others political beliefs.

Company Belief and Views.

Some organizations work hard to curate a particular image which might make them lean towards certain political beliefs and be negatively biased toward others. This might be due to the beliefs of the founders or in most cases an effort to appeal to certain groups in their customer base. A representative of the organization expressing contradictory political beliefs especially when they can be linked to the organization might find their job at risk. This type of dismissal might sometimes lead to a legal tussle, but well laid out organizational policies agreed to by employees might work against them. This is where freedom of speech infringement comes into play, an employee might make a case that their rights to free speech have been infringed upon by the company policy. But then if in expressing your political beliefs you are harming your employer’s business shouldn’t you be fired.

Conclusion

Ideally, no one should be sacked for their political beliefs,  and since most employers value good performance, efficiency and productivity from their employees irrespective of personal beliefs this is usually not a problem. It is toxicity, degradation of performance and bad blood between colleagues in the workplace that arises from discussions of political beliefs that usually lead to problems. When expressing your political beliefs in your workplace or in any way that can be linked to your workplace, carefully consider the potential consequences of your words as there is no clear cut law protecting you and sometimes in all fairness, you might be at fault for being fired.

The only group of people that should be sacked for their political beliefs are politicians. That sacking is done by the people, the ultimate power in a democracy.

Can You Get Fired For Your Political Beliefs?

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