David Urban is senior counsel at Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, where he represents public agencies and public and private educational institutions in labor and employment law, with a focus on First Amendment, Title IX and constitutional issues.
Free speech serves as a core principle of the U.S. democracy. The Constitution’s First Amendment protects expression on all types of subjects and topics, but courts are particularly careful to protect individuals’ political expression. In its absence, it would be difficult for democracy to function.
Lofty concepts, but a complicating factor is that the First Amendment binds only government actors — not private companies. And private companies write the paychecks for the vast majority of U.S. workers. What happens when a private employer attempts to censor an employee’s political speech through threats of discipline or termination, or by other means? The U.S. Constitution provides employees with no protection in this situation.
Responsible employers may well recognize that such intimidation is not going to advance the company’s business purpose, and that sound business and civic reasons exist not to interfere in employees’ political lives. But what about those that take a different approach? What legal guardrails exist that protect against abuses?
The same legal questions need to be answered looking at the situation — as human resources professionals often must – from the opposite perspective. Sometimes, employees’ political activity...
Kenneth Scott Miller, 48, is charged with a felony count of making a false report to law enforcement. He was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $500 bond. According to an Escambia County ...