Politics and work can be volatile mixture

Eve Tahmincioglu • Profile • E-mail

Robert, a physical therapist from Wilmington, Del., says he doesn’t like to talk about politics at work because sometimes the discussions get “too volatile.” But in the same breath he launches into how interesting the race for the White House is this time around given that an African-American and a woman are running.

“It will be interesting to see what this country is really ready for,” he adds, as he helps a patient stretch an injured leg.

Robert is like most workers out there: They think politics and work don’t mix, but they can’t help but talk about this particular election when they’re in the workplace.

You can’t blame people. The election season started earlier than ever, and it seems like there’s a debate on TV every night. Not to mention the epic scale of the presidential campaign with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in a position to possibly make history.

But bringing political speech into the workplace is touchy issue for rank-and-file workers and for managers. No one can stop you from making your political thoughts known at work, but you can be fired, reprimanded or denied a job because of those beliefs.

And too much political passion can hamper what you’re in the workplace to do in the first place, to work.

Nearly 40 percent of companies have written policies prohibiting workers from handing out literature endorsing political parties or candidates, according to a just-released survey by the American Management Association. But what you discuss around the water cooler or on your personal blog is typically not something businesses spell out in employee handbooks.

While state and federal employees, as well as union members, offer some protection when it comes to free speech and work, most employees don’t often have a leg to stand on. Only four states — California, New York, Colorado and North Dakota — have some protections for employees who get involved in politics away from the office or plant, but even those laws are limited, legal experts say.

“The constitution doesn’t apply to private employers,” says Lewis Maltby, president of the National Work Rights Institute in Princeton, N.J. “You can be fired for political expression off-duty or on-duty.”

During the 2004 election, a woman who worked at an insulation company in Alabama was fired for having a John Kerry bumper sticker on the car she drove to work. Her boss, a supporter of President Bush, ordered her to remove the sticker, and after she objected she was fired.

Fear of losing one's job has had a chilling effect on free speech in the workplace, argues Bruce Barry, a professor at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and author of “Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace.”

“With a very few exceptions employers have a huge amount of power to regulate employee speech,” he explains. “But I think they should calm down.”

If it interferes with job performance or is disrupting the workplace, he adds, employers have a right and obligation to step in “but my concern is that employers are to quick to make judgments.”

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