Question about rights in the workplace and outside

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Matthew R Overfield

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Michigan
A big question in my mind is...

Why can an employer fire you for freedom of speech and you cannot sue them, but not religious beliefs? Are these not both rights guaranteed by the Constitution?

Also, supposing that you can sue an employer for firing you for freedom of speech, can you sue a company that you do not work for...for violating your freedom of speech and/or religious beliefs?

Thanks.
 
The First Amendment to the Constitution says that Congress shall make no law that prohibits your right to free speech. It does not say that there are no circumstances under which you can be penalized for what you say - just that the GOVERNMENT cannot restrict what you say.

There is a specific law which prohibits an employer from treating you differently, discriminating against you or firing you BECAUSE of your religious beliefs. That's an entirely different situation.
 
Matthew R Overfield said:
A big question in my mind is...

Why can an employer fire you for freedom of speech and you cannot sue them, but not religious beliefs? Are these not both rights guaranteed by the Constitution?

Also, supposing that you can sue an employer for firing you for freedom of speech, can you sue a company that you do not work for...for violating your freedom of speech and/or religious beliefs?

Thanks.
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What type of employer? What did you say that got you fired?
 
Matthew R Overfield said:
A big question in my mind is...

Why can an employer fire you for freedom of speech and you cannot sue them, but not religious beliefs? Are these not both rights guaranteed by the Constitution?

Also, supposing that you can sue an employer for firing you for freedom of speech, can you sue a company that you do not work for...for violating your freedom of speech and/or religious beliefs?

Thanks.
Click to expand...


Smart employers don't use specific reasons when terminating employees.

Unless you have an employment contract, heck, even if you have an employment contract; your services can easily be terminated by the employer.

There is another side to that idea, mate.

You are free at any time, with or without notice, to terminate your employee status, too!
 
Anyone can sue anyone for anything. That doesn't mean they can sue successfully. You're going to have to provide more detail if you want anything resembling an informed opinion.
 
cbg said:
Anyone can sue anyone for anything. That doesn't mean they can sue successfully. You're going to have to provide more detail if you want anything resembling an informed opinion.
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I posted my religious beliefs in a Microsoft News article's feedback section. Microsoft News removed my post stating that it violated their guidelines.
 
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justblue said:
What type of company did they work for and what did they say?
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It was for a drug rehabilitation center. I think he made supposedly racist comments on his facebook page and someone reported it to his boss. I don't think the person who reported it worked at the same place. I almost wonder if the person who reported it committed harassment and if he could have sued the person for harassment and won.
 
No media outlook owes you a platform. There is a very big difference between an employer not being able to fire you because of your religious beliefs, and news outlet being required to allow you to air your views.

You might have noticed that even some very high level politicians have had their social media accounts suspended and even banned, and that the highest court in the US has supported that banning. Why do you think you have more rights to a guaranteed platform than they do?
 
Matthew R Overfield said:
It was for a drug rehabilitation center. I think he made supposedly racist comments on his facebook page and someone reported it to his boss.
Click to expand...

Certainly a firing offense. Perfectly legal. Nothing to sue for.

Matthew R Overfield said:
I posted my religious beliefs in a Microsoft News article's feedback section. Microsoft News removed my post stating that it violated their guidelines.
Click to expand...

Also perfectly legal and nothing to sue for. You'd lose if you tried. Microsoft News is private property. You comply with its guidelines or your post gets tossed.

Same with this site that you are on now. The owner has given three of us authority to monitor posts and remove those that don't fit the site guidelines. Though we are probably less formal and more tolerant.

:)
 
justblue said:
How were your religious rights violated by this company?
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I posted my religious beliefs in a Microsoft News article's feedback section. Micros
cbg said:
No media outlook owes you a platform. There is a very big difference between an employer not being able to fire you because of your religious beliefs, and news outlet being required to allow you to air your views.

You might have noticed that even some very high level politicians have had their social media accounts suspended and even banned, and that the highest court in the US has supported that banning. Why do you think you have more rights to a guaranteed platform than they do?
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You say: "No media outlook owes you a platform"

My response: I'm not sure why you use the word "owe". Please explain logically. I never thought Microsoft News owed me anything. I am more concerned about how their guidelines are discriminatory against my religious beliefs. If you think a news outlet can set such guidelines that do so without legal ramifications…please explain logically.

You say: There is a very big difference between an employer not being able to fire you because of your religious beliefs, and news outlet being required to allow you to air your views.

My response: So you are saying that a news outlet can set guidelines that discriminate against someone's religious beliefs and not expect legal ramifications?

You say: You might have noticed that even some very high level politicians have had their social media accounts suspended and even banned, and that the highest court in the US has supported that banning.

My response: Yes I am aware. But now we are talking about how a company can retaliate against people legally because of certain things they have said. We already established this earlier in this thread. I'm not concerned about this. If a person talked about their religious beliefs to any extent in the workplace can an employer fire this person and not expect any legal ramifications? Please explain logically. As far as Trump goes, can those media platforms retaliate legally against him for any protected speech that he exhibited? If you think his speech was unprotected and that was why they banned him, then how was the speech that they retaliated against him for unprotected?
 
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adjusterjack said:
Certainly a firing offense. Perfectly legal. Nothing to sue for.



Also perfectly legal and nothing to sue for. You'd lose if you tried. Microsoft News is private property. You comply with its guidelines or your post gets tossed.

Same with this site that you are on now. The owner has given three of us authority to monitor posts and remove those that don't fit the site guidelines. Though we are probably less formal and more tolerant.

:)
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You say: Certainly a firing offense. Perfectly legal. Nothing to sue for.

My response: Can you prove this?

You say: Also perfectly legal and nothing to sue for. You'd lose if you tried. Microsoft News is private property. You comply with its guidelines or your post gets tossed.

My Response: Can you logically explain the connection between something that is private property and how this same entity can set policies/guidelines that discriminate against religious beliefs? If a person were to talk about their religious beliefs in the workplace to any extent, and their employer fire them for it, would this be discrimination based on religion? Please explain logically. Say supposedly, that a person's religious beliefs stated that they should call a person of another specific religious belief a "heretic", that the person did so in the workplace, and then the employer fire that person for it…would the employer be discriminating against the person that they fired? Please explain logically.
 
In what way are YOUR religious beliefs being discriminated against? They don't HAVE to allow any religious statements at all. You're not being discriminated against if they prohibit ALL faiths from posting, only if they allow some but not others.
 
cbg said:
In what way are YOUR religious beliefs being discriminated against? They don't HAVE to allow any religious statements at all. You're not being discriminated against if they prohibit ALL faiths from posting, only if they allow some but not others.
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You say: In what way are YOUR religious beliefs being discriminated against?

My response: In the sense that they were not allowing me to post my religious beliefs. So you are saying that it is only discrimination if they allow one faith to post their beliefs while not allowing another? Yes this did happen. In fact, the article that I posted in was a religious article about another faith. But I was not thinking about how this might be how it was discrimination.

You say: They don't HAVE to allow any religious statements at all.

My response: Please explain why.

You say: You're not being discriminated against if they prohibit ALL faiths from posting, only if they allow some but not others.

My response: Can you prove this statement? Does the Constitution define discrimination?

Can a company refuse to hire religious people?
 
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Matthew, we don't have to prove or explain anything to you. You asked questions, you got answers. If you aren't happy with those answers you can take your discussion over to City-Data where hundreds of people will be happy to engage you.

Thread closed.
 
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