November 6, 2012 or
Election Day is just over a month away and with that comes an increase in the
workplace talk of politics. As everybody knows, politics can always generate
strong emotions from people. This seems especially true this year as the
partisan banter and divide is at an all time high.
Political Speech in the
workplace can present difficult challenges for employers that can create an
unproductive and divided workforce with lower morale. Also, strong political
debates can offend clients whom disagree and take offense.
The question then becomes
how can you tame down a politically charged conversation in the workplace
without violating a person’s First Amendment rights?
Private employers have an
easier time regulating political speech during working hours than their public
counterparts. This is because free speech in the workplace is different than
free speech outside. There are several laws that help break down the
differences and where the limitations lie, such as the First Amendment,
National Labor Relations Act, Election Laws, State and Municipal Laws, Civil
Rights Act, etc.
So, what is an employer to
do to protect themselves from the pitfalls of workplace political comments?
There are five steps you can start implementing today.
1) Education
is key to a lot of things, political speech is no exception. Start with
retraining all of your employees on the basic and relevant policies on
anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, equal employment opportunity, etc.
2) Encourage
accountability. Have employees help be your eyes and ears by reporting anything
they feel is politically harassing or violating, so you can take steps to cool
down political tensions.
3) Add
to your corporate code of conduct. Let employees know they need to be
respectful of their fellow co-workers political opinions and values; therefore
failure to do so could merit disciplinary action against them.
4) Cover
political apparel in your dress code. Political buttons, stickers and/or other
campaign paraphernalia can spark a heated debate, so consider putting a clause
addressing this in your dress code.
5) Do
not push your views. Feel free to encourage your employees to partake in their
civic duty to vote but be careful not to cross the line in convincing them to
vote or financially support a particular candidate and/or cause. The persuasion
could be viewed as a coercive activity by some and run in violation of federal
and state election laws.
Workplace political
dustups can be cooled down by being aware and following the five aforementioned
steps. For more information on how to reduce political distractions in your
office, contact Todd Weyandt at todd@laihr.com.
