Should employers be able to fire you for political beliefs/party affiliation?

[Goldwater]

In principle, I think business should be able to hire or fire anybody for any reason. However, since anti-discrimination laws do already exist, I think they should apply equally to all groups and identities, so I voted no.

[Orwell]

"Only if you're a Nazi or Islamist"

What's specifically wrong with these ideologies? Why should the government have power over the hiring/firing practices of private businesses?

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Hard no. Employment shouldn’t be contingent on anything that happens outside of your workplace.

 

[Chips]

Absolutely not.

[thumb21]

No. The right to free speech doesn't exist in any meaningful sense if using it can lead to you losing your main source of income.

[Fight for Trump]

No. The right to free speech doesn't exist in any meaningful sense if using it can lead to you losing your main source of income.

The exact same thing could be said from the employer's side.

[thumb21]

No. The right to free speech doesn't exist in any meaningful sense if using it can lead to you losing your main source of income.

The exact same thing could be said from the employer's side.

I'm not entirely sure what you are referring to. A business could lose customers if someone high up is too vocal about their political views but they take on significantly more responsibility for the brand of the business than the average employee does.

[Kingpoleon]

Yes. I presume that an employer has the right to choose who to employ or not employ and I am satisfied with the existing law's exceptions to that right.

I do not see any particular reason for there to be nearly any existing anti-discrimination laws.

[The Houstonian]

No, employers should not be able to dispose of their workers for frivolous reasons.

[Damocles]

Nazis don’t deserve a place in a polite, democratic society. They should be shunned and outcast at every turn, and that includes employment. Political affiliation is a choice, not a quality intrinsic to a person. It is right that you not be fired for being a woman or being Black, but for Nazis? No. Nazi scum don’t deserve that.

[RINO Tom]

Nazis don’t deserve a place in a polite, democratic society. They should be shunned and outcast at every turn, and that includes employment. Political affiliation is a choice, not a quality intrinsic to a person. It is right that you not be fired for being a woman or being Black, but for Nazis? No. Nazi scum don’t deserve that.

We don't set public policy on what is "fair" or what various groups of people "deserve," though.  We set it based on what precedent it will set and how that precedent could be used in the future to harm innocent, well-meaning Americans.  We simply cannot allow employers to fire you over any political beliefs that aren't very clearly affecting your work performance...

[Damocles]

We don't set public policy on what is "fair" or what various groups of people "deserve," though.  We set it based on what precedent it will set and how that precedent could be used in the future to harm innocent, well-meaning Americans.  We simply cannot allow employers to fire you over any political beliefs that aren't very clearly affecting your work performance...

I don’t see how using racial slurs at work or openly wearing Nazi tattoos is somehow “using it against well-meaning Americans.” We know that these people are not only not well-meaning, but don’t even qualify as Americans. They reject the basic notion that all men are created equal, and that certain rights are inalienable. And at that point, they’ve made their bed, so they can lie in it. If you don’t want to abide by those basic principles, get out.

[RINO Tom]

We don't set public policy on what is "fair" or what various groups of people "deserve," though.  We set it based on what precedent it will set and how that precedent could be used in the future to harm innocent, well-meaning Americans.  We simply cannot allow employers to fire you over any political beliefs that aren't very clearly affecting your work performance...

I don’t see how using racial slurs at work or openly wearing Nazi tattoos is somehow “using it against well-meaning Americans.” We know that these people are not only not well-meaning, but don’t even qualify as Americans. They reject the basic notion that all men are created equal, and that certain rights are inalienable. And at that point, they’ve made their bed, so they can lie in it. If you don’t want to abide by those basic principles, get out.

Well, you're moving the goalposts for the OP, then.  What you are describing is behavior that is affecting the workplace culture and could constitute termination on different grounds.  Simply having the knowledge that someone is a private Nazi sympathizer in the confines of his home is NOT reason to fire him, if he doesn't bring that to work and it doesn't affect the workplace.  Once you set that precedent, it could be used by bad people to shield their discrimination against good people for less controversial political opinions ... which is the point of my comment.  In fact, I am kind of confused as to where you are going with your response, as you took some of the wording I used ("well-meaning") and applied it to people (Nazis) that I was not using it to describe...

If someone is using racial slurs at work, an employer should be able to fire them on the grounds that they're literally antagonizing fellow employees and/or customers and quite enormously affecting the company's work in a negative way.  A person should similarly be subject to possible termination if he is running around the office berating other employees for being Democrats or Republicans, too, but the firing would not be on the basis of one's beliefs; it would be on the basis of how one is ACTING OUT his beliefs.  There is a huge difference for how we write laws, as the former sets a dangerous precedent that could come back to harm good people with normal beliefs if the boss is a jerk, while the latter provides a template where inappropriate BEHAVIOR (rather than simply less-than-desirable thoughts...) can get somebody fired.

If you are using this debate to try to have a contest of who hates Nazis the most and who's willing to pass the harshest law because of it, you are arguing in bad faith.

[Damocles]

Well, you're moving the goalposts for the OP, then.  What you are describing is behavior that is affecting the workplace culture and could constitute termination on different grounds.  Simply having the knowledge that someone is a private Nazi sympathizer in the confines of his home is NOT reason to fire him, if he doesn't bring that to work and it doesn't affect the workplace.  Once you set that precedent, it could be used by bad people to shield their discrimination against good people for less controversial political opinions ... which is the point of my comment.  In fact, I am kind of confused as to where you are going with your response, as you took some of the wording I used ("well-meaning") and applied it to people (Nazis) that I was not using it to describe...

If someone is using racial slurs at work, an employer should be able to fire them on the grounds that they're literally antagonizing fellow employees and/or customers and quite enormously affecting the company's work in a negative way.  A person should similarly be subject to possible termination if he is running around the office berating other employees for being Democrats or Republicans, too, but the firing would not be on the basis of one's beliefs; it would be on the basis of how one is ACTING OUT his beliefs.  There is a huge difference for how we write laws, as the former sets a dangerous precedent that could come back to harm good people with normal beliefs if the boss is a jerk, while the latter provides a template where inappropriate BEHAVIOR (rather than simply less-than-desirable thoughts...) can get somebody fired.

If you are using this debate to try to have a contest of who hates Nazis the most and who's willing to pass the harshest law because of it, you are arguing in bad faith.

You are misunderstanding me. There can be no debate with Nazis. There can be no negotiation with Nazis. There can be no coexistence with Nazis. There can only be peace when they are utterly destroyed. Trying to “reason” or “debate” with these “people” is a Sisyphean exercise. If they reject the basic principles of a democratic society, and the tolerance it is predicated on, then there is no reason to accommodate them. When you are punched, you do not dare turn your cheek, for this only emboldens them, and sets a precedent that they may tread on you. Instead, you strike back. “Enlightened” platitudes and appeals to “decency” only put you further down on their list of undesirables.

[AGA]

I guess. I don't go babbling off about my politics in public.