After reading the story about the Utah business owner who bragged about firing two Obama supporters, I was pretty incensed.
“That’s illegal, right?” – that was my reaction. Not to mention just wrong on principle.
I thought political discrimination was prohibited by our country’s employment discrimination statutes. I looked it up after I was done explaining why I was so opposed to this Utah man’s discriminatory actions to a friend on Facebook, and I stand by my opinion that it’s discrimination, wrong and should not be allowed. And there is a difference between firing someone because the business needs to adjust to new laws like Obamacare, and firing someone because they support a politician or party you don’t like. That’s how I feel.
But that’s not how the law feels. At least not as far as private businesses go.
Yet I didn’t have to look it up, even. I missed the bit at the end of the HuffPost article about this, where it mentions that federal laws do not prohibit political discrimination. Only California, Colorado, Connecticut, New York and Mississippi have additional laws on the books regarding employment practices and political affiliations.
I think that’s a damn shame.
“Elections have consequences,” said another business owner, in Las Vegas, who fired 22 of his 114 employees right after the election because Obama won. And it was legal!
Elections do have consequences. But everyone feels them regardless of which candidate they voted for.
So punishing people based on their politics seems petty to say the least. And that’s just… wrong! We’re in a democratic country, for Pete’s sake! And I thought gone were the days of the Gilded Age when companies could pressure their workers to vote one way or another and punish them if they voted the “wrong” way? And I mean that’s how political machines were built, anyway – you were rewarded for voting the “right” way.
Guess I was wrong…
I feel like it’s one thing if you’re using your place of employment as a pulpit to preach your views – companies have rules about that and nobody does it. But once you leave your place of work, you clock out, your political views should not have to be hidden on pain of termination.
Yet, it’s legal. I just don’t think it should be…
Now that I know that… it makes me rethink this blog, actually. I’m very opinionated and have strong passions for politics and world events. But who am I kidding? I’m not convincing anyone who isn’t already converted. I don’t think my views are radical in any sense of the word. But now knowing, actually knowing that I could be fired for being so open about my political views (and not just because I work in a fairly public industry – journalism), it’s making me think twice… Is preaching to my little choir really worth risking my career? At this point, probably not…
I have some thinking to do.
The more you know, indeed…
What about you?
Do you worry that blogging about this stuff can hurt you as far as jobs go?
Do you think I should be worried?
Leave me a comment below.
