Work and politics can be a bad mix — but it’s hard to know where to draw the line

As the US hurtles toward yet another divisive election, it could become harder to sidestep political talk at work. Domenique Camacho Moran shared her insight with Business Insider highlighting the challenges of managing political discourse while maintaining workplace harmony.

Domenique Camacho Moran, an employment attorney with the firm Farrell Fritz in New York, told BI that when it comes to private employers, workers generally don’t have a right to broadcast their political views on the job.

She said most employers don’t tend to tell workers what they can talk about. Instead, private employers more often focus on what’s off-limits. That often includes language that would harass colleagues based on a list of protected categories like race or religion.

Camacho Moran said employers can prohibit political conversation, but one risk is inconsistency in enforcement.

Besides, she said, determining what is political speech can be difficult. Camacho Moran pointed to a recent dustup over the opening ceremony at the Olympics. Some religious conservatives decried the performance for making what they saw as disrespectful allusions to Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

“Am I allowed to talk about the Olympics, or is that political speech?” she said.

“So, it’s a slippery slope for an employer to start going down the road of no political speech,” Camacho Moran said. Instead, she said, employers can enforce “reasonable standards” that might prohibit people from having arguments or distracting colleagues.

“If we have employers who are more focused on conduct, not content, they are better served,” she said.

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Talking Politics at Work Is a Dangerous Game: Here’s Expert Advice – Business Insider