In my January 3 post on the possible impact of the election of certain presidential candidates on the workplace, I started a discussion on this blog that will continue until November.  It’s important to try to figure out what will happen in the labor and employment arena as a result of this election.  Maybe together we can come close to doing that.

In a recent MarketWatch piece, there’s a good reminder about the problems of mixing politics and the workplace. 

Campaign buttons, political opinions not always welcome at work 

Things can get out of hand.  Strong feelings can compromise the need to work together.  So, employees should take a measured approach when it comes to dealing with this year’s presidential election while at work.  If things do get out of hand, you may need to step in and draw some lines in the sand.  I think allowing employees to talk about the political scene, particularly during breaks or when it doesn’t interfere with work,  is a good thing. I’m not a big proponent of coming up with a rule about this before trouble arises, because trouble may never arise.  

Keep in mind that if you let employees wear political buttons to work or put up political stickers, you may open the door to buttons and stickers about all sorts of causes.  Sooner or later, that will likely cause a problem.  Everyone needs to try to be reasonable and excercise a little common sense.  

Sometimes, employers think that if they let employees wear political buttons, let’s say, you give up the right to prevent employees from wearing union buttons.  Except in rare situations, an employee has the right to wear a small, unobtrusive union button, regardless of what you do or say about political buttons.

Also keep in mind that state statutes may have something to say about politics in the workplace.  For example, Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 2-19-134 makes it unlawful for an employer to: (1) require an employee to vote in a certain way in order to continue his or her employment; (2) threaten disciplinary action against an employee if he or she does not vote in a certain way; (3) discharge an employee because of his or her exercise or failure to exercise the right to vote in an election; and (4) circulate any statement calculated to coerce an employee to vote or not vote in a certain way.  And get this.  The penalty for violating this statute is a fine between $1,000 and $5,000 or imprisonment up to six months.  Yikes!

So, the boss needs to be careful how strongly he or she states views on a particular candidate.  Calling a meeting of a group of employees for the boss to give a speech in support of a candidate shouldn’t happen.  Doing something negative to an employee who expresses his or her view in favor of a candidate not favored by the boss would be ill-advised. Management’s sending out a memo or an email in support of a candidate is asking for trouble.  And loading up employees on election day in a company vehicle to take them to the polls could be a little too helpful, although offering this service should be ok as long as an employee’s use of the service is strictly voluntary.  When it comes to election day, most states have statutes allowing employees to take paid time off to vote–not the whole day but a reasonable amount of time (which means different things in different states).

If you don’t know whether your state has a law dealing with politics and the workplace and what that law says, this would be the perfect time to find out.