4 ms·

Let's say they make a law saying you can't ask your coworkers what their salary is - wouldn't you agree that is against freedom of speech?

• mbillie1 10y ago
  No, I would not. Freedom of speech pertains to legislation from congress preventing political speech. Most companies already prohibit employees from discussing salaries, under penalty of termination. Any business can ask you to leave, as a patron, for using profane speech in their establishment, or any number of other reasons. Please stop participating in this absurd and obnoxious fallacy wherein you decry anything you dislike as violating your "free speech"
  • xyzzy4 10y ago
    >Most companies already prohibit employees from discussing salaries, under penalty of termination. This is actually illegal in many states. Workers have a legal right to discuss salaries. >Freedom of speech pertains to legislation from congress preventing political speech. Not correct. Free speech is about any freedom of expression, not just political speech. There is endless amounts of case law to back this up.
    • deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    • mbillie1 10y ago
      Please document some of this case law!
      • xyzzy4 10y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_cases_involving_the_First_Amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_...
      • dpark 10y ago
        Come on. It's not even difficult to find examples of non-political speech being protected. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_v._Black https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_v._Black https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcroft_v._Free_Speech_Coalition https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcroft_v._Free_Speech_Coal... You can find a big list of free speech cases here. Many cover non-political speech. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_cases_involving_the_First_Amendment https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Suprem...
  • encoderer 10y ago
    Retribution for discussing salaraies is a violation of federal labor relations guidelines. Companies can write that in their handbook but not enforce it. If they do, contact a lawyer and the national labor relations board.
  • dpark 10y ago
    > Freedom of speech pertains to legislation from congress preventing political speech. Freedom of speech is broader than that. Freedom of speech not only extends beyond congress (which the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed), it also goes beyond political speech. You have the right to espouse openly racist beliefs. You have the right to espouse religious beliefs, and beliefs on the best way to grow corn, and what the best auto maker is. These are not political opinions except to the extent that they are protected from suppression by politicians. (Alternatively you can argue that basically all speech is in some fashion political, in which case the "political" distinction is meaningless.)
  • lr4444lr 10y ago
    A mountain of first amendment case law at virtually every level of public life disproves your narrow definition of freedom of speech.