When Political Discourse Leads To Dismissal

Conventional wisdom used to dictate that employers should refrain from taking political positions, and employees' personal political views had no place in the workplace. The widespread use of social media has changed this calculus today. While technically not part of an employee's workplace behavior, employees' personal social media accounts are often public and available for all colleagues to view. This means when an employee speaks out on these platforms, they are also communicating to their co-workers. When an employee's viewpoints or statements are construed as offensive, harassing or discriminatory, employers are increasingly taking action by disciplining or even terminating the offending employee. Whether such actions could land the employer in legal trouble is an increasingly perilous minefield.