(no ducks today:)

Every time someone gets in trouble or is fired for mouthing off about a boss or employer on social media people go up in flames citing their right to Freedom of Speech, but guess what?

The First Amendment doesn’t cover the workplace.

According to Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor Janice Bellace it just ain’t so.

She says in the U.S., anyone trying to challenge such a practice in court would have almost no legal ground to stand on. “People think they have more rights than they actually have; they seem to think they have rights that are just not there.” For example, she notes that employment law for decades has said that non-unionized workers could always be fired for taking actions that publicly disparage their employers.

Does the First Amendment protect candidates when they are asked for access to their social media? Probably not.

“It has always been the case that employers could ask others about you for a reference and, if you refuse to give them names, they can refuse to hire you.”

For years I’ve enviously read about privacy rights in Europe and watched the European Union enforce them, no matter the political/economic clout of the companies.

And for years friends and business associates laughed at my concerns and cited the First Amendment as our best protection.

While it is marvelous protection for political and religious freedom, it would be wise to remember that it has no protective power in the wonderful world of work.

Sure, that may change, but you have to function in the current reality no matter how hard you are willing to work to change it.

Flickr image credit: William F. Yurasko