When the news of former FBI Director Robert Mueller’s death broke, Donald Trump wrote, “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” Just a few months ago, workers across the country were fired for making similar remarks related to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Reuters found more than 600 instances of individuals who were punished for criticizing Kirk after he was killed. Public sector workers generally have First Amendment rights that protect them from being fired when they speak out on matters of public interest. But, in most states, private sector workers can be fired for stating an opinion that their boss doesn’t like, or for joining a “No Kings” rally or an anti-ICE protest. Elizabeth Anderson, a University of Michigan professor, wrote a terrific book called “Private Government,” with the sub-title, “How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk About It),” that addresses how we take for granted the authoritarian control employers hold over workers. But does it have to be this way?
Transposing First Amendment rights to the workplace does present some challenges. For instance, the First Amendment protects our right to use the most offensive slurs, including ones so offensive that I wouldn’t even write them here. But, surely employers don’t have to allow workers to hurl invectives at each other. That’s true, but even under the First Amendment we recognize the notion of the captive audience, and that your right to free speech does not include a right to force me to listen to that...
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 20. The United States is using the UN Security Council to spread false information about Iran and its peaceful nuclear program, the Permanent Mission of Iran to the UN said i...