If you work for the government (city, town, county, state, school district or any other governmental entity), and if you are not a policy maker or a “confidential” employee, you cannot be fired, suspended or suffer other adverse employment consequences because of your politics.
What does this mean? You do not have to contribute money to a party or candidate if you do not want to. You cannot be retaliated against if you do support a candidate. You can contribute or not contribute money as you wish. You can display lawn signs, attend or not attend political events, and you cannot be retaliated against if the other person in the election wins the election.
Too many people think that politics is a legitimate way to punish people. Too many people think that if a politician gave you your job then a politician can terminate you. Too many people think that “if you live by the sword then you die by the sword.” This is simply not true. Regardless of how you got your government job, you cannot be fired, suspended, demoted, etc. simply because you backed the wrong candidate or did not back the “right” candidate.
The First Amendment guarantees that your political speech, including who you choose to back or not back politically, cannot be the basis for adverse employment decisions. Yet, too many politicians don’t know or don’t care about this important area of law.
If you or someone you know were retaliated in their job because of their political speech, their political affiliation (which party they belong to), their political actions, or anything like that, call us. The Dyller Law Firm is experienced in this type of litigation, and we have achieved significant results for our clients.
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