An employment attorney says private employers have right to fire or discipline workers because of political speech.<\/p>\n
DALLAS \u2014 The First Amendment gives Americans the right to speak and the right to post, but it does not give Americans the right to keep a job.<\/p>\n
Disciplinary action is being taken by employers across Texas against workers who posted about the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n
There are documented cases<\/a> of pilots<\/a> and professors<\/a> being fired because of what they said on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cA private employer can fire or discipline an employee for political speech,\u201d said Dallas employment attorney Rogge Dunn, who has tried multiple First Amendment cases in court.<\/p>\n The First Amendment protects you \u201conly from the government taking adverse action against you because you speak out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Private companies can fire a worker because of something said or written, no matter if the comment was made on someone\u2019s own personal time.<\/p>\n \u201cYou really don\u2019t have any off time anymore,\u201d Dunn said. \u201cAnd remember, employers can say, you can\u2019t smoke, period \u2013 off campus, on campus. They can have an anti-smoking policy that we don\u2019t hire smokers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEmployers are regulating employees\u2019 personal lives every day in every way, and it\u2019s legal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Dunn does question how far the state of Texas could take cases of teachers being permanently banned from teaching in the state over a post, an action Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath implied they\u2019re considering.<\/p>\n Friday, the TEA sent a letter to superintendents saying teachers\u2019 posts could \u201cconstitute a violation of the Educators\u2019 Code of Ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n Morath said instances of inappropriate content being shared should be reported to the state.<\/p>\n Monday, the TEA confirmed approximately 180 cases had been reported and said the agency\u2019s Educator Investigations Unit is \u201ccurrently reviewing each complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n Morath said the agency would determine whether \u201csanctionable conduct\u201d has occurred. But Gov. Abbott indicated on social media<\/a> what the sanctions would be.<\/p>\n \u201cThose educators \u2014 more than 100 \u2013 will have their teacher certification suspended and be ineligible to teach in a Texas public school,\u201d he posted.<\/p>\n Dunn is skeptical about actions against educators.<\/p>\n While the First Amendment doesn\u2019t protect private employees, it does protect government employees, Dunn said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat would include someone working at a government agency, someone at a school district, a fire department, first responders\u2026all those have First Amendment protections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if those actions are followed through by the governor, they\u2019re gonna face a lot of lawsuits. And if you\u2019d ask me, I\u2019d rather be on the teacher\u2019s side of that lawsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n