JustAnswer
FREE SPEECH “Even though efforts to restrict employees’ free speech at work may be permissible, such efforts raise troubling questions affecting individual rights.”The First Amendment to the Constitution protects freedom of Speech. The United States Supreme Court often has to decide exactly what “speech” means. The following are examples of what has been deemed to be “speech” in our country: direct speech and symbolic speech. That means both actual words and some actions can be defined as speech and are protected by the Constitution. Freedom of speech also includes the right not to “speak”, the right to use certain offense words, to contribute money to political campaigns, to advertise commercial products, and to engage in symbolic speech. In America, we're free to express all sorts of opinions, good, bad and ugly. Some people may be offended, and quite rightly so. Recently, however, the idea of “free speech” has run into problems in the workplace. Of course, free speech does not condone a hostile work environment based on race, religion, sex, and so on. But, free speech should not stop at the door of the place of employment. With the business environment today, more and more employers are restricting free speech so as not to be the target of lawsuits, or to alienate other workers or customers, for political reasons, and personal beliefs of management. Employers recently have terminated employees for sending around questionable jokes (not racial, or anything). One employee was terminated for having bible verses on his desk, thereby “upsetting” non-Christian employees. In one case, an employee was forbidden to support a certain political candidate by wearing a button, or making a financial contribution. A common-law rule that an employment contract of indefinite duration can be terminated by either the employer or the employee at any time for any reason; also known as employment at will.United States employers have traditionally had the right to discharge their employees at any time, for any reason, be it good or bad. This means the employees who do not have the protection of a contract which states they can only be fired for good cause, can be fired for any reason at all—or no reason. Contracts are usually associated with unions or executive positions with specific clauses in their contracts. This puts employees at a distinct disadvantage, of course. They are one “pink slip” away from being unemployed at any time. First Amendment protects our rights at all times. In America, we're free to express all sorts of opinions, good, bad and ugly. Some people may be offended, and quite rightly so. But the employer has no business outlawing such expression. With the “at will” employment policy, however, it puts every employee squarely in the middle of having to weigh these rights against having a job, if an employer sees fit to limit these rights. Fortunately, some courts and administrative agencies have begun to see the danger here, but too many have not. No one should have to put up with being unduly burdened at work by racial jokes, sexual inuendos and the like, but to restrict Free Speech is something that we just cannot lose, and we must protect in the workplace just the same as anywhere else. ................
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