Employer Retaliation Attorney in New Jersey, New Jersey
What is political retaliation?
What is political retaliation?
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so political retaliation is generally
um a type
of retaliation that’s only unlawful in
the context of public employment so if
you work for the government meaning
either at the local level or at the
county level or at the state level or
even the federal level the general rule
under the constitution under the first
amendment which protects um freedom of
speech and freedom of assembly and
freedom of association all of which
underly the freedom to engage in
political activities and the freedom to
have political beliefs and the freedom
to to vote uh and the freedom to belong
to political parties government
employers can only hire and fire and
otherwise treat employees differently
based on politics if the employee is in
what we call a policymaking position so
the clearest example that I can give up
of a policymaking position is the
president’s cabinet the cabinet members
make policy and so any president can of
course choose their cabinet members
based on the political party that the
cabinet members belong to based on their
political beliefs based on political
statements they’ve made at the other end
of the spectrum you know let’s take the
um the local municipal clerk who you go
to when you’re paying your speeding
ticket that person does not make policy
so when a new mayor comes in and that
mayor is from a different party they
don’t get to fire that person because
that person’s from the other political
party or because even if that person’s
in the same political party maybe that
person supported the mayor’s opponent in
the election here in New Jersey there’s
even case law saying being
aolitical is protected in other words
that a public employer can’t take
adverse action against an employee
because that employee
um doesn’t want to be involved in
politics doesn’t want to go out and
campaign for a candidate doesn’t have a
declared political party and so the
political discrimination retaliation
cases take the form of either the the
government employer treating the
employee differently
um because of the employees party
affiliation or because of the employees
campaign activities um or because of the
employees political speech
Morristown, NJ employment law attorney Chris Lenzo talks about political retaliation.
