CAN I BE FIRED FOR HOLDING AN UNPOPULAR POLITICAL OPINION?
These pictures of protesters in Egypt bring to mind the potential concerns employees might have about supporting a political cause. Connecticut law protects employees who speak out on matters of public concern, so long as this speech is not a part of the employee’s job duties. See Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-51q (available at https://www.cga.ct.gov/2009/pub/chap557.htm#Sec31-51q.htm).
Unfortunately, this protection has been diminished some in recent years, but the principle is as important as ever.
“If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by process of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”
Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1856-1941, U.S. Supreme Court Justice