Activism at own risk

Let's say you were so fired up by the Michael Vick dogfighting controversy that you wanted to make your feelings known in a public way.

Many people did just that recently — some of them protesting against animal cruelty at the Atlanta Falcons training camp and others rallying in support of Vick at the Georgia Dome, calling for sponsors and the public to wait for due process before reaching conclusions.

That night on the local evening news, you're shown waving a sign and chanting a slogan. When you go to work the next day, your employer may not like it, but nothing bad can come of it, right?

Wrong.

"There's a popular misconception that the First Amendment means you can say what you want," said Darren Summerville, an attorney with the Atlanta firm Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, who practices employment law. "But you simply don't have First Amendment rights in the private sector."

Many companies encourage local activism outside the workplace, but that encouragement is directed to community-support efforts, such as volunteering with Habitat for Humanity or Hands on Atlanta.

Employment consultants say that speaking out publicly at a rally on either side of the abortion issue or demonstrating at the annual Atlanta Gay Pride Festival can have consequences in the workplace. That might be true, even if the company is a sponsor of an event, such as the Pride Festival.

"This is at the heart of some of the diversity issues companies face," said Len Rothman, an Atlanta-based executive coach. "It could be that the company supports the Gay Pride Festival, but, depending on who it is and what they have to say, an employee could be at risk when they go back to work."

The risk isn't just that the employee might be fired, Rothman said. Especially for middle managers, the consequences of speaking out about an issue could be subtle.

"If that person's views aren't well-known within the company, that could really be a problem," Rothman said. "People who move people along — the senior managers — might draw negative conclusions about the employee. They could be left out of project teams, which are important to career advancement."

Another Atlanta employee coach, Hardy Dorsey, agrees.

"It's the power of the unwritten rules," Dorsey said. "I don't think you want to be a rabble-rouser on the TV news."

In some cases the rules are written, but when it comes to activism outside the office, the guidelines usually are vague.

"An employee handbook could say that an employee can take no action that reflects unfavorably on an employer," Summerville said. "It's up to the employer to determine what that means.

Some organizations are very specific about prohibited activities. Turner Broadcasting System spells out what can get employees in hot water, because its CNN staff needs to be viewed as able to cover the news objectively.

"In our standards and policy guide, we direct all our CNN staff directly related to covering or preparing the news on-air and online to not be involved at all with the stories we are covering," said TBS spokeswoman Shirley Powell. That includes "no active participation in statewide or national campaigns. No contributions. No attending of political functions."

Still, she said, the company's policy allows for volunteerism.

"We encourage activism in community-wide activities on a local level," Powell said. "But activism in local controversial issues should and would be discussed on a case-by-case basis."

Summerville said there are times when an employee can speak up publicly about an issue, primarily if the protest involves some kind of discrimination at work.

"For example, you can't be retaliated against for speaking out against sexism in the workplace," Summerville said. "You can't be punished for a protected action."

Summerville notes that the vast majority of Georgia workers are "at-will" employees, meaning that the employer doesn't need to justify terminating their jobs. For that reason, he said, workers should think carefully before joining a picket line, no matter how strongly they feel about a social cause.

"It really is about pragmatism," Summerville said.