The answer to the question “can you lose your job for protesting” is more complicated than that. While The First Amendment does give us the right to peacefully assemble and protest, labor and employment attorney Aaron Holt says your job status may actually “depend on who you work for and where you live.”Here’s some other factors too look into if you’re worried you might lose your gig over fighting injustice:
- Public or Private Employer. If you’re a government worker you have a right to political speech if it’s a matter of political, social, or other concern as confirmed in the case of Connick v. Myers. Holt says this Supreme Court established a balancing test for public employees based on whether an employee’s speech was a personal grievance or a matter of public importance. But when it comes to the private sector, things get hairier.
- At-will employers can fire you without needing much justification.Unless your termination is a violation of federal, labor, or discrimination laws, your private employer can probably terminate you for any reason they deem worthy. Employment attorney Donna Ballman confirms “every state in the nation but Montana is at-will, so unless you have a contract or union collective bargaining agreement saying otherwise, you can be fired for any reason or no reason at all.” Which yes, means you can get fired for attending protests.
- Exceptions to the rule.Some states have laws on the books preventing you from being terminated due to legally protected actions like Colorado, New York, and North Dakota. In other states like California, Colorado, New York, North Dakota, and Louisiana “it’s illegal to retaliate against an employee for their off-duty participation in politics or political campaigns,” says Ballman, “so protests are probably covered.”
If you’re worried your company's ideology doesn’t align with yours when it comes to the Black Lives Matter protests, find more info on how you can stay protected from being firedHERE.
Source:HuffPost