Q: With all the footage available of the attack on the Capitol, I understand there are many people who were spotted and identified by their employer and have lost their jobs as a result.

But if someone was there only to protest, and was not involved in the violence can they be fired for something they have a right to do even though it was outside of work?

A: We have been here before. In 2017, right after white supremacists protested in Charlottesville I heard similar questions. This is a common confusion when discussing this topic especially online:

What about their First Amendment rights? What about their “freedom of speech”?  Well, not to sound like a broken record but, all the First Amendment does is to protect you from the government silencing your speech. So, yes, you absolutely have a right to stand in the street yelling slogans with a bullhorn or with a sign saying pretty much whatever you want, and the government can’t silence you or censor you. But the protection ends there.

Whatever happens to you after that –whether you lose your job, or your professional organization expels you or you roommate kicks you out – that is simply called consequences.

It’s what happens when you attend or participate in speech that your employer finds problematic, (even if that speech is protected). In other words, we have “freedom of speech, but not freedom from the consequences”.

So, from a strictly legal perspective, employers can absolutely fire someone for taking part in an event. And in Florida, it’s easy. We are an “employment at-will” state, which means (absent a contract or union) employers can fire any time for any reason as long it’s not a discriminatory reason.

Another area of confusion is this idea that employers cannot fire you for activities or behavior “outside working hours.” Well of course they can, as anyone who’s been fired for a weekend DUI, or posting inappropriate pictures on their Facebook page can tell you. Details of what happened that day on January 6, are becoming darker the more we learn about it. So don’t be surprised if employers look to distance themselves by firing those that attended.

©Copyright Eva Del Rio. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com