The publication date of this post is February 15, 2021, the first Presidents Day in office for President Joe Biden, after maybe the most bizarre election soap opera in American history. Today is a fitting day to address employees’ political activity and voting rights.
Have you ever wondered if it is illegal for your employer to meddle in your vote? The answer to that question is technically no. It is common for employers to feed their employees, and anyone who will listen, directives on who to vote for and why. According to this Forbes article, some estimates are that approximately half of all employees want employers to provide them information on how to vote, trust the information, and find it helpful.
At first glance it might seem like employers’ obvious conflicts of interest with employees and the old adage, don’t talk politics or religion at the dinner table (or at work for that matter), should provide a basis for some kind of blanket protection for employees. Nevertheless, employers, and corporations, may legally tell employees and other people who to vote for and why they should vote that way. However, employers cannot require employees to vote for specific candidates. In California, it is illegal for employers to threaten termination or loss of employment to influence employees’ political action or political activity. It is also illegal for employers to actually terminate employees or take some sort of negative action against employees in retaliation for disregarding a voting directive.
Employees should not mistake these limited protections for a freedom of speech right to express their political, or other, views and beliefs inside and outside of the workplace.