This is a pretty charged time in politics and people are definitely going to one side or the other. If you have strong feelings, that’s great! But be careful what you talk about at work.
The First Amendment Doesn’t Apply When You’re at Work
The First Amendment is actually pretty complicated and a common misconception is that it protects speech in any place. It doesn’t. And a private company could make rules and regulations about what is and isn’t acceptable work conversation.
You Can Discuss Politics at Work
But it depends on where you work. But it also depends on the higher-ups frowning on personal time during the work day. If you’re engaging in political chatting on social media or even just talking to co-workers throughout the workday, you could possibly get called into the boss’ office for it.
This Also Applies To When You’re Not at Work
Of course what you do outside of the office is your time, but you’re still representing your company in a way and behaving professionally is good practice. A good thing to start doing is privatizing your social media accounts. And keep your exchanges online good natured. A colleague could take it the wrong way and feel like s/he is being bullied and report you to HR. Seriously.
It’s such a fine line!
(The Muse)