As controversy continues over the Confederate flag in the wake of the church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, some employers are asking whether they can sanction employees for displaying the symbol. Daniel Schwartz of Shipman & Goodwin looked at the legal research in a recent post to see what the courts have to say about the issue.
“Displays of the flag at work can cause issues and give rise to discrimination claims,” he says, which he adds is “not a big surprise.” In one federal court case from 2014 in Georgia, a police officer was demoted for displaying the flag on his Facebook page along with the text, “It’s time for the second revolution.” The police officer claimed this was a violation of his First Amendment rights, and Schwartz said the court agreed—kind of. It applied a balancing test, analyzing the right to free speech against the right of the employer to take action when speech can disrupt a company’s efficient operation.
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