Free Speech In The Private Workplace

If you are a private employer, chances are you have had an employee claim that their constitutional "right to free speech" has been violated. Such a complaint begs the question: Do employees have free speech rights in a privately owned workplace? The answer is that employees who work for private employers do not have a constitutional right to free speech. The First Amendment's guarantee of free speech addresses the rights of citizens regarding their relationship to the government. An employer can limit free speech; however, there are constraints on how much employee free speech may be regulated. Private employers must make sure that the limits they impose on employee speech do not take away an employee's right to speak out about violations of any of the employment laws or to engage in "concerted activity."