Can your employer restrict what political statements you make in the course of your employment, when you’re getting paid to wear your company shirt on television?
Maybe.
“NFL Adopts New Anthem Policy,” The Wall Street Journal, May 24, A14. Teams (but not players) can be fined if NFL players on the field do not stand for the National Anthem.
Governance
- Who has the power to make what rules governing whom, and how violations of those rules will be enforced?
- The League has the power to govern teams, but not players? (See reference to collective bargaining agreement below.)
- Will this redirect any fan displeasure away from the NFL and onto the individual teams or players?
Information
- Is an employee’s political speech information?
- If information is received, created, or distributed by a company’s employees during the workday in the workplace, is that information company information?
- If it’s company information, can’t the company limit that distribution?
Compliance
- Does enforcing rules against the teams and not the players work?
- Does this comply with the collective bargaining agreement? Is that why the policy doesn’t apply to the actual players, and just the teams?
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