Can A Government Employer Restrict Political Talk at the Workplace?

Political talk is seemingly everywhere nowadays, and no matter what your views, as an employee, you may have an issue if your boss tells you that your workplace won’t tolerate any political speech at all.

This becomes a particularly difficult problem, if you have a public (that is, government) employer. That’s because the constitution applies to government actors, which means that, seemingly, it would be a first amendment violation for your employer to tell you what you can and cannot say at work (note that the constitution does not restrict private businesses, which means that a private, non-government employer has much more leeway in restricting any kind of speech at work).

So is it a first amendment violation for your governmental employer to restrict your political speech?

Private vs. Public Political Activities

This largely depends on how and where the restriction or the speech is, and how and where you are speaking.

As a general rule, a government employer can prohibit political talk if the prohibition is only related to your speech at work or related to your job duties.

Government employees have, and maintain, a first amendment right to speak as they choose so long as they do so in their private capacity, and so long as the political speech doesn’t interfere with the employees’ job or job duties.

Applying this to the real world, if you worked for the Office of Elections in your county or city or the State, your government employer could restrict you from political speech in a very broad way—the office that runs elections needs to be fair, neutral, impartial, and free from employees that are saying anything about partisan politics.

On the other hand, if you worked for the traffic department, or perhaps the city library, or the building department, your employer would have less of an ability to prohibit what you say politically.

What is Being Said?

It also matters whether you’re speaking of a private or public concern. Advocating, for example, that the government should provide more public housing in the country, a matter of public concern, would be more likely to be protected.

But complaining that your government office treats you poorly and is filled with people of a political party you don’t agree with and because of that their policies are misguided, would not be protected, as that is more individual political opinion, and not a more protected matter of public importance.

What Can be Prohibited?

In most cases, your employer cannot prohibit you from supporting a candidate, or even working for a candidate, so long as you only do so in your private capacity (outside of work, and not as an agent or representative of the government agency that employs you). But they can restrict you from political speech or activities, while wearing your outfit or uniform, if you have one for your job.

Your government employer may, however, be able to fire you or require that you resign, should you opt to run for political office.

Note that federal jobs may have different requirements and restrictions than state government employers may have.

Were you punished for something you said at work? Call us to see if your rights were violated. Contact the San Jose employment attorneys at the Costanzo Law Firm today for help.

Sources:

acludc.org/know-your-rights/federal-employee-speech-first-amendment/

osc.gov/Documents/Outreach%20and%20Training/Posters/The%20Hatch%20Act%20and%20Most%20Federal%20Employees%20Poster.pdf