Free Speech Challenge, 2022-Style: Does Your Employer Have Right to Surveil You?

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Surge Summary: Does the right to free speech stop at your employer’s door. Does your place of employment have the right to control what you say – even privately – while you are working? Some people would say yes.

by Mikayla H. La Grita        

Today’s world is rife with those who would deny Americans of their rights, given in the Constitution and by The Bill of Rights, while demanding that other things are rights, but are not specifically outlined in these documents.

Company rules are company rules, but would that argument hold up in court? Do employers get to decide when and if an employee can exercise their God Given Constitutional Rights?

Employers are now surveilling both the actions and conversations of their employees. When challenged, they like to say that it is for the employee’s security.

Is it really? Do they need to hear conversations in detail? How does this infringe on the Constitution?

In the time the Constitution was written, eavesdropping was the only form of verbal surveillance. Now high-tech devices take the place of people listening to other people. It can be interpreted as a violation of the First Amendment. People are able to speak freely of whatever is on their mind.

https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1153/surveillance-and-wiretapping

The Federal government struggles to legally tiptoe around what they can and cannot observe and record, but how are individuals effected?

The radical division within America and its denizens is at an all- time uproar, some think free speech should be curtailed, or at least, they want to hear their opinion coming out of your mouth. No need to have your own, they can provide the proper, PC opinion for you. They want to be the speech police and label some words as “hate speech, some as racist, etc.

Others find this abhorrent and are determined to exercise their rights, as no such determinations were included in the Forefathers original scripts.

Which brings up another key question?

Can employers forbid an employee from discussing controversial subjects? Company policy may prefer that certain subjects are kept for after hours, but is that really legal? Stepping on eggshells at work and being censured by your superiors does not seem conducive to a productive work environment?

Is that yet another reason to add to the work force’s reluctance to enter the job market?

The Affordable Health Care Act killed a staple to the employment benefits package. Most employers saw the law as an excuse to cut expenses and drop the healthcare plan.

Of course, pension plans are a thing of the past in most cases.

Vacation and sick time are still in play but can often be frowned upon to use at will. Some are afraid of losing their jobs, if they go on vacation, or God forbid, if they get sick.

Pay scales are way down, especially in the light of sky rocketing inflation.

So, adding up the cons of taking full time employment:

Low pay

Limited benefits

Suppressed use of time off

Surveillance

Censorship

Micromanaged time either in office or remote work

Low pay scale and chance of advancement

And the pros:

A paycheck, which may or may not cover your necessities

If ten would be a perfect score for a job, seven are on the low side and only one for the good.

The odds aren’t so great.

However, since the majority have to have at least one job to live, it is necessary to choose according to the lesser of the evils.

Most of the above-named things have been in play since the Great Recession.

Surveillance and censorship are new and should be avoided at all costs. Refuse to be separated from your Constitutional rights!

The views here are those of the author and not necessarily Daily Surge.

Image: by Tumisu from Pixabay

Mikayla H. LaGrita is a wife, mother and writer who is refusing to be silent anymore.