Employee Free Speech in the Workplace: Using the First Amendment As Public Policy for Wrongful Discharge Actions
Employee Free Speech in the Workplace: Using the First Amendment as Public Policy for Wrongful Discharge Actions LISA B. BINGHAM* I. INTRODUCTION A private-sector employer in the United States may fire an employee for the employee's political views. 2 During the 1992 presidential campaign, employers required that employees sit through a presidential candidate's stump speech as part of a company-wide captive audience. 3 Employees commented to * Assistant Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University; J.D., University of Connecticut, 1979; Partner, law firm of Shipman & Goodwin, Hartford, CT 1979-89. This research was supported by a grant from The Fund for Labor Relations Studies, Ann Arbor, MI. The author thanks Professor Theodore St. Antoine, University of Michigan School of Law, for his comments on the manuscript and helpful suggestions. Professor Harry Pratter, Indiana University School of Law, also shared his insights and improved the manuscript with his review. The author gratefully acknowledges the invaluable assistance of Clark Johnson, who served as research assistant on this project. I As used in this paper, "private sector" employment includes all but government employment. The term includes nonprofit employers and private employers with substantial government contracts or grants. "Public sector" employment includes employment by federal, state, and local government, including municipalities, school boards, state institutions of higher education, and similar boards or commissions that represent political subdivisions of a state. 2 There are limited areas of protection for certain categories of expression. For example, the National Labor Relations Act protects speech on unionization. 29 U.S.C. §§ 157, 158(c) (1988).
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