Question
My employer threatened my job this morning over something I posted online. I have strong political beliefs and care about what’s happening in the Middle East and the election. I choose to share my views with my friends online because I fear what might happen if the wrong party wins.
I don’t want to leave my job. I like what I do, and other than this, my employer generally leaves me alone — which I appreciate. I admit some of my posts seem intense. That’s intentional. I want them to go viral. That’s why I wrote a post saying would-be assassins targeted the wrong candidate. I also tweeted a Republican shooter wouldn’t have missed and included a call to action. My employer freaked out, saying I advocated violence.
Even if I did, my employer overstepped and needs to realize employers aren’t allowed to fire employees for what they say when the employee posts from their personal social media accounts.
Further, my posts have NOTHING to do with my work performance, so I refuse to cave to pressure and dilute what I write. I don’t represent my employer 24/7, so how is it any of my employer’s business what I post?
Answer
Alaska employers can discipline or even terminate employees whose posts cross the line, even if those employees post from their own accounts. When an employee’s posts endorse or encourage violence, it potentially creates a toxic, hostile environment.
Recently, multiple employers have fired employees for posts endorsing violence. When an auto racing broadcast employee posted “the next shooter isn’t going to miss” and “By September 1, that man will be DEAD. And the half of us in this great national who understand what a threat he is to DEMOCRACY will stand and cheer,” his employer fired him.
When a worker wrote “Damn, they missed” after the assassination attempt on former President Trump, Guardian Pharmacy fired her.
When a school employee posted “Shoot — if only he would’ve had his scope sighted in correctly,” a South Dakota school district fired her.
When a sheriff’s deputy posted that Chief Justice John Roberts’ life “needed to be shortened, his employer fired him.
Employers can also discipline or terminate an employee whose posts depict or glorify illegal activity; make slurs, use discriminatory language or constitute hate speech against any group based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics; engage in cyberbullying; threaten employee health or safety; or include manifestos or engage in conspiracy theories and use inflammatory rhetoric.
For example, when a Citi personal banker tweeted “No wonder … Hitler wanted to get rid of all of them” with a smiley face, Citigroup fired her.
Even if employers can fire employees for offensive posts, they need to first review applicable federal and state laws. The National Labor Relations Act protects an employee’s right to communicate with coworkers about workplace issues such as wages, benefits, tip-sharing arrangements, management, hours or other work conditions. These issues overlap with political views. Also, some states — currently California, Colorado, Louisiana, New York and North Dakota — prohibit employers from taking adverse actions against employees based on lawful off-duty conduct.
Finally, not only might your post cost you your current job, it might make finding a new job harder. Fifty-five percent of the employers that review job candidates’ online accounts prior to hiring reported they found content that caused them not to hire a candidate.
So here’s my question: Can you voice your views without advocating violence?