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What Rights Do You Have To Talk Politics In The Office?

Published: Friday, August 12, 2016 - 5:09pm
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How much can we talk politics at the office?

The issue seems to come up every two years, as elections loom.

This year, the WNBA fined players, including some on the Phoenix Mercury, for wearing shirts in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The league later rescinded those fines.

So, what legal protections do employees have on subjects like this one? To find out, we call on Paul Bender, a professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU.

It depends on who you work for.

If you work for government:

"The government is constrained by the First Amendment to the Constitution and the equivalent provision in the Arizona Constitution and you have free speech rights," Bender said.

That's not necessarily the case if you work for a private employer.

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