{"id":23831,"date":"2021-01-18T01:56:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T01:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=23831"},"modified":"2021-01-19T12:48:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T12:48:31","slug":"fired-for-storming-the-capitol-why-most-workers-arent-protected-for-what-they-do-on-their-own-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/fired-for-storming-the-capitol-why-most-workers-arent-protected-for-what-they-do-on-their-own-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Fired for storming the Capitol? Why most workers aren\u2019t protected for what they do on their own time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth C. Tippett<\/a>, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Can you be fired for joining a violent mob that storms the Capitol?<\/p>\n

Of course you can.<\/p>\n

Among the jarring images of white insurrectionists who broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was a man marching through the building holding a Trump flag<\/a> with his work ID badge still draped around his neck.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for internet sleuths to zoom in on the badge and alert his employer, Navistar Direct Marketing, a Maryland direct mail printing company.<\/p>\n

The company promptly fired the man and contacted the FBI, issuing a statement<\/a> that \u201cany employee demonstrating dangerous conduct that endangers the health and safety of others will no longer have an employment opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though the Capitol Police let all but 14 of the rioters<\/a> walk away, the FBI and District of Columbia police have begun tracking them<\/a> down. Other<\/a> companies<\/a> have also taken action<\/a> against employees<\/a> identified in the many photos from inside the Capitol. Even the CEO of a data analytics firm<\/a> found himself without a job following his arrest.<\/p>\n

Based on my experience as a law professor<\/a> and lawyer specializing in employment law, I doubt that Navistar management is losing sleep over whether its decision was legally justified.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not even a close case. Non-unionized workers in the United States \u2013 about 90% of all workers<\/a> \u2013 are employed at-will. That means you can be terminated at any time<\/a>, without notice, for any reason. It doesn\u2019t even have to be a good reason. Unless the company has guaranteed your job in writing, or there is a specific law that protects your conduct \u2013 such as laws protecting union organizing or whistleblowing \u2013 your fate is up to them.<\/p>\n

The law is more protective when it comes to unionized workers and government employees. These workers may have the right<\/a> to be terminated only for cause, and they might get a hearing process prior to being disciplined. Government workers are also protected by the First Amendment, particularly when it comes to free speech in their capacity as citizens<\/a> rather than speech related to the workplace.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the teachers and off-duty police officers spotted at the Capitol have only been suspended pending investigations<\/a>, rather than fired outright. For these workers, their fate may depend on whether they were peacefully participating in the day\u2019s earlier rally \u2013 an activity that would be considered protected speech \u2013 as opposed to engaging in violence or joining the capitol invasion, which would be unprotected illegal conduct.<\/p>\n

Things get murky if these government workers were displaying white supremacist symbols, like a confederate flag, at the rally. Courts have recognized limits<\/a> on the public speech of police officers to uphold public confidence, community relations and department morale.<\/p>\n

\"A
A supporter of President Donald Trump appears to take a selfie at the Capitol on Jan. 6.<\/span>
\nSaul Loeb\/AFP via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But as the Brennan Center, a liberal-leaning law and public policy institute, observed in an August 2020 report<\/a>, \u201cfew law enforcement agencies have policies that specifically prohibit affiliating with white supremacist groups.\u201d The absence of such policies could make it harder for departments to later discipline off-duty police officers for their role.<\/p>\n

[Deep knowledge, daily.<\/em> Sign up for The Conversation\u2019s newsletter<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

State lawmakers who participated<\/a> are a different matter. Because they were elected by the people, they can\u2019t be removed like ordinary employees. That might require<\/a> a recall election or a state impeachment process.<\/p>\n

But for most of the folks who snapped selfies in the Capitol \u2013 or ended up in someone else\u2019s \u2013 if they don\u2019t get a knock on the door from the FBI, they may soon be getting one from HR.\"The<\/p>\n

Elizabeth C. Tippett<\/a>, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth C. Tippett, University of Oregon Can you be fired for joining a violent mob that storms the Capitol? Of course you can. Among the jarring images of white insurrectionists who broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was a man marching through the building holding a Trump flag with his work ID badge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":23832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,277],"tags":[7344,9323,1651,2197,4424,9325,9324,9277,509],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23831"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23831"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23839,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23831\/revisions\/23839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}