Employers have been on edge about how November’s polarizing presidential election may impact their workplace and its culture. Tensions are now further heightened following the attempted assassination of former President Trump last weekend during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Employers should take this moment to review policies and procedures regarding overall respect and tolerance in the workplace, parameters for using employer technology systems (email, internal messaging systems like Slack, Teams etc.) to communicate with coworkers about non-work-related matters such as politics, and the potential impact of employee conduct outside of work (including social media) on the workplace environment.
While it may be tempting to implement a strict “no discussing politics in the workplace” policy, some employers may find such a policy overly restrictive, contrary to the company’s culture and/or otherwise difficult or unrealistic to enforce in practice. Additionally, many, if not most, “political” topics also touch on many protected characteristics, such as gender, race, national origin and religion, leading to a delicate balance between what communications would fall under such a policy (notably under federal law and in most state and local jurisdictions, political affiliation is not a protected class under the workplace anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws. Washington state and the District of Columbia are notable exceptions).
At a minimum, employers should clearly establish when expressing a political opinion at work can turn into workplace bullying or harassment, in violation of company policy. Employers should likewise ensure that clear lines of communication are open for employees to freely report any such misconduct without fear of retaliation.