#TakeAKnee – Can you be fired for your political opinions?

Can you be fired for your political opinions?

By Jack Tuckner, Esq.

Yes, the short answer is you can be fired from your private sector job for your political opinions. There is no first amendment right, there is no free speech in your private sector workplace. That’s to prevent the government from interfering with your ability to express yourself.

The distinction is, is your outside activities, the political beliefs that you either maintain, or that you are being subjected to in the workplace, do they implicate a protected status? If the political speech you are being treated differently for, your political speech because it is of a certain flavor or variety, and certain issues of race, color, sexual orientation, or religion are implicated, then it veers into the protected space where under the Civil Rights Act, the workplace does not condone this type of disparate political opinion that degrades the terms and conditions of your employment or someone else’s.