How to Campaign Without Jeopardizing Your Job
The current political climate has triggered an unprecedented rise in political activity on both the left and right. What is great! It is good for a democracy when citizens are civic and publicly work to shape policy. But many of these activists are new activists who have just entered the scene and may not know what kind of social and political activity could cause them problems with employers. Take Sally Avelenda, who was part of a group in New Jersey that pressured spokesman Rodney Frelinghuisen to respond to their constituents.
In the fundraising letter that Frelinghuisen sent to the board member of the bank where Avelenda worked, Frelinghuisen added a handwritten note in which she indicated that she was the “head of the forces” that “are working hard to end the policy of limited government, economic growth stronger. ” National security.”
In legal terms, this is called a bullshit move. Avelenda was dragged to the board of directors of Lakeland Bank and asked to explain; she says the subsequent pressure forced her to quit smoking.
It got me thinking: how can you defend your work if you’re a march, protester, keyboard player, booklet, postcard writer, or whatever? How can a newly energized activist be loud and proud on weekends and still avoid retaliation from her employer? I spoke to Eric Bachman, an employment lawyer at Zuckerman Law in Washington, and David Wachtel, an advocate at Trister, Ross, Schadler & Gold in Washington, for advice.
First, think about your employer.
If you are a federal, state, or local employee, you are likely to enjoy more protection from political speech than if you are a private employee.
Bachmann says: “You have to understand the difference between working as a federal government employee and working for a private company, because there are quite significant differences in the protection that can apply to you … In short, there is much less protection for most employees. private companies. Federal employees enjoy more protection from the First Amendment and the Trapdoor Act , as well as several other statutes. “
One exception: if you are working on behalf of a union – say “this union supports Barack Obama” – you will have a little more protection under the National Labor Relations Act.
The difficulty gets more complicated if you are an employee of choice , which means you can get fired for almost any reason at any time (unless you are located in one of the roughly nine states that have some legal protections for political expression). … Thus, you alone will have to weigh the likelihood of being punished for hiking or organizing meetings with the goal of, say, expelling your member of Congress and replacing him with someone you like best.
In such a situation, it is obviously helpful to consider your boss’s opinion and / or your company’s relationship with local politicians, as well as how sympathetic they can be to your goals. If they spot you on the evening news marching for planned parenthood, would that at least lead to an awkward conversation with the water cooler and, in the worst case, lead to you getting a warning? If so, you can:
Campaign anonymously if you can.
David Wachtel says: “If an employee is in a difficult situation when he is worried about the safety of his work, he should think about the means to express his opinion anonymously.” National Park Service officials tackled the problem with an alternate Twitter account (as did NASA and the U.S. Forest Service ), and Twitter has so far refused to identify the account holders to the government. Wachtel says that “at worst and under high pressure, anonymity is a way to express yourself politically with less risk.”
On a smaller scale, if you just want to organize, post, or just express outrage at the variety of gardens on social media, consider using a second account under a pseudonym and don’t mess with co-workers.
Do nothing during business hours.
Or to corporate email, to corporate computers, or even to a corporate copier. Don’t accidentally dial someone on a company cell phone when you shout that it’s orange, it’s disgusting, it lost the vote. This also applies to government officials: you do not want to give anyone a reason to think that you are using government resources for political activity.
If you’re a temporary employee, Wachtel says: “Don’t use your employer’s computer to plan your trip. Don’t identify yourself by who you work for. You can do all of this to give them less reason, but if the employer is going to see your picture on the news … [and you are an employee], you really don’t have much protection. “
You also want to make sure that your political activities are legal. Bachmann says, “The more you stick your neck out, the more you risk being legally fired,” so you, for example, don’t want to be arrested for assault. All of this will reduce your chances of gaining attention and give your boss a reason to fire you.
Consider whether your activity really affects your ability to do your job effectively.
Employers of all stripes can fire you if your job affects your productivity or causes problems in the workplace. Bachmann says, “It cannot disrupt the workplace with your behavior or your statements.” Obviously, this is a subjective test, but it is still worth considering: you do not particularly want an obstetrician-gynecologist and yelling at rallies in defense of life, which can cause her patients to question the impartiality of her information or advice; You don’t want the third grade teacher to be seen at the Clan rally, which is why parents will most likely not want to enroll their children in his class.
Do your job well.
It is also important to consider: how useful are you to your company? Most employers don’t want to fire good workers left and right just because they are marching for science or whatever. As Wachtel says: “It is unwise for an employer to lose productive employees to something like this when a person is doing their job. Long-term punitive speech is not the best way to get your employees to do good work. ”
In the short term? Start your anonymous Facebook tally, photocopy on Kinkos and dig in. If you need to organize your community under the nickname “BingoMavensForJustice”, so be it. Civic activism is worth a tiny piece of a virtual cloak and dagger.