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Why do people insist on bringing the First Amendment into these discussions? Unless you work for the government, the First Amendment doesn't say anything about

Why do people insist on bringing the First Amendment into these discussions? Unless you work for the government, the First Amendment doesn't say anything about the relationship between your speech and your employer's reactions to that speech. If you say something I don't like, I can punch you square in the face and the First Amendment says NOTHING about it. I'll get brought up on assault charges, but free speech is simply a non-issue. Yes, you absolutely can fire someone for disparaging your company on Facebook. You can also deal with the NON-LEGAL fallout from doing so because I'm pretty sure that, if word gets around that you fire people for talking about not liking their job, your company's reputation is going to take a serious nosedive.

JoachimSchipper 16y ago
As I understand the article, this is not a free speech issue but a free association (e.g. union-forming) issue: if you can't (easily) discuss your working conditions, it becomes very hard to organize. E.g. "MyCo sucks" may still be prohibited in specific agreements, but "MyCo pays $10/hour and makes you work long hours" is perfectly fine. (Think ea_spouse.)
- notahacker 16y ago
  I'd have thought the other big question is whether Facebook was considered to be quasi-private channel for employees to share concerns with each other or a broadcast medium.
  - stcredzero 16y ago
    Clearly, the law has to catch up and start addressing social graph media directly as an intermediate but distinct form.
- byrneseyeview 16y ago
  You can't fire someone for griping as long as the gripes are objective? That seems kind of ridiculous. It's clear that companies should prefer employees who criticize constructively (i.e. emailing the boss to say that people would get more done if they made more money but didn't have to work such long hours). What purpose would it serve to make it harder to select such people?
araneae 16y ago
Perhaps that's how it should be, but it's clear that that isn't actually how our legal system works. We have copious amounts of legislation detailing what and when are appropriate firing situations. Anything relating to biological sex, pregnancy, race, religion are all off limits. There are legal protections for people who strike/unionize. And like this guy mentions, there are now court cases that mean that as an employers, you might want to exercise caution in this area.
tbrownaw 16y ago
...hm. What would happen if the bill of rights applied to the stronger side in any relationship with a massive power disparity, rather than just the federal and state governments?

JoachimSchipper 16y ago

As I understand the article, this is not a free speech issue but a free association (e.g. union-forming) issue: if you can't (easily) discuss your working conditions, it becomes very hard to organize. E.g. "MyCo sucks" may still be prohibited in specific agreements, but "MyCo pays $10/hour and makes you work long hours" is perfectly fine. (Think ea_spouse.)

notahacker 16y ago
I'd have thought the other big question is whether Facebook was considered to be quasi-private channel for employees to share concerns with each other or a broadcast medium.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  Clearly, the law has to catch up and start addressing social graph media directly as an intermediate but distinct form.
byrneseyeview 16y ago
You can't fire someone for griping as long as the gripes are objective? That seems kind of ridiculous. It's clear that companies should prefer employees who criticize constructively (i.e. emailing the boss to say that people would get more done if they made more money but didn't have to work such long hours). What purpose would it serve to make it harder to select such people?

araneae 16y ago

Perhaps that's how it should be, but it's clear that that isn't actually how our legal system works. We have copious amounts of legislation detailing what and when are appropriate firing situations. Anything relating to biological sex, pregnancy, race, religion are all off limits. There are legal protections for people who strike/unionize. And like this guy mentions, there are now court cases that mean that as an employers, you might want to exercise caution in this area.

tbrownaw 16y ago

...hm. What would happen if the bill of rights applied to the stronger side in any relationship with a massive power disparity, rather than just the federal and state governments?