Can your employer tell you to remove...

[wardfamily1]

OP, are you going to tell us what it said?

Or at least tell us if it was a 'Vote for X' sticker or something more than that?

 

[tinatark]

Something like this happened to a Costco or BJ's club employee in FL - he had a Confederate Flag attached to his truck - was asked to remove it or park off premise. He started parking somewhere else.

 

[disney1990]

Freedom of speech issue, plain and simple. Your employer may be able to fire you for it, if he wishes, but I'm certain the American Civil Liberties Union would be delighted to hear about it if he did. While some may be advising you that this isn't worth fighting, I'd advise that this isn't something your boss should want to push too far.

For my part, I'd fight it as far as it needs to go. No employer is going to control what I put on my privately owned vehicle.

I totally agree. At Will Employee does not mean that you can be discriminated against. This would fall under Freedom of Speech and the ACLU would love to take the case.

The only reason I can see you boss asking you to remove it, would be if you worked for a political organization.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I would add a few more of the same ones on my car.

 

[disneychrista]

Yes if you are their owned or controlled parking they can tell you, you can not have it. You can choose to not park in the lot, remove the sticker or cover it while you are there.

 

[SeeVee]

Freedom of speech issue, plain and simple. Your employer may be able to fire you for it, if he wishes, but I'm certain the American Civil Liberties Union would be delighted to hear about it if he did. While some may be advising you that this isn't worth fighting, I'd advise that this isn't something your boss should want to push too far.

For my part, I'd fight it as far as it needs to go. No employer is going to control what I put on my privately owned vehicle.

You could NOT be more wrong. .

The First Amemdment only provides that the government can not censure your speech, except in very limited circustances.

Employers, friends, family, etc can tell you to "shutup" all day long and it is not a violation of the First Amendment.

Once again- it is only a violation of the First Amendment if it is the government censuring/suppressing your speech.

 

[Pigeon]

That actually IS the case if you work for PepsiCo. I was there, working a freelance job. I went to take a swig out of my bottled water and my boss almost went nuts, making me toss out the bottle before anyone saw it. The brand, which might have been Dasani, I don't remember, was bottled by the Coca Cola company. Oops!

I found out, that when hired, each PepsiCo employee has to sign a form stating they will not buy, own, use, carry, etc. any products by their competitors. Furthermore, if their car is searched in the employee parking lot, or they have a family picnic and Coca Cola products are in their car or at the picnic, they could be fired. PepsiCo employees are representatives of PepsiCo even in off duty hours.

I'm sure Coca Cola has similar employee rules.

Wow. They want to control your grocery list? That's just nuts. Remind me not to buy anything sold by PepsiCo.

 

[SeeVee]

I totally agree. At Will Employee does not mean that you can be discriminated against. This would fall under Freedom of Speech and the ACLU would love to take the case.

The only reason I can see you boss asking you to remove it, would be if you worked for a political organization.

What do they teach in American Schools? Or do they even teach?

ONLY the government can violate your 1st Amendment rights.

 

[LotsOfQuestions]

Freedom of speech issue, plain and simple. Your employer may be able to fire you for it, if he wishes, but I'm certain the American Civil Liberties Union would be delighted to hear about it if he did. While some may be advising you that this isn't worth fighting, I'd advise that this isn't something your boss should want to push too far.

For my part, I'd fight it as far as it needs to go. No employer is going to control what I put on my privately owned vehicle.

I totally agree. At Will Employee does not mean that you can be discriminated against. This would fall under Freedom of Speech and the ACLU would love to take the case.

The only reason I can see you boss asking you to remove it, would be if you worked for a political organization.

The ACLU would laugh you right out of the office if you tried to fight this.

It is privately owned property. The owner can dictate what is on that property.

No freedom of speech violations are happening. The boss did not ask the employee to remove the bumper sticker, only that the bumper sticker could not be in his parking lot.

You can loosely think of it in a smaller way. Let's say you are a Bush supporter. Your neighbor is an ardent Obama supporter. Your neighbor cannot put Obama signs in your yard and claim he can put them there due freedom of speech. It is your private property and you dictate what your message is going to be.

Just as the parking lot is the company's property, the owners can dictate what message their property says about their company.

 

[hollieplus2]

We can't have those where I work. I work for the dept. of the VA. We cannot wear anything political at all to work. We can wear the I voted stickers but that's it. We are not supposed to have any bumper stickers on our cars either but they aren't to strict about that. The only ones they won't let you have are the ones that degrade the president, since technically he's our boss. They haven't said anything about Obama, McCain, Hilary etc. just the derogatory ones against Bush since he's still the president and we are on government property.

 

[LotsOfQuestions]

Freedom of speech
http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0407a.asp

Let’s examine the freedom-of-speech clause of the First Amendment. Contrary to what many people think, the free-speech guarantee operates only as a barrier to censorship by government officials, not on the right of private entities to refrain from publishing material they don’t like.

For example, consider a newspaper that publishes an article favoring a certain policy in the community. Imagine that opponents to that policy demand that the newspaper carry an article opposing the policy and that the newspaper refuses to do so.

Some people would undoubtedly cry, “Censorship!” and claim that the First Amendment was being violated. They would be wrong on both counts. Restrictions on the exercise of free speech are censorship and First Amendment violations only when some law or governmental action is involved. When private entities make personal decisions about what to publish and not publish, they are exercising the fundamental rights of private ownership and liberty — the types of rights whose exercise the government is supposed to protect.

 

[KikiFan]

I can understand how your boss feels. It is very bad for business to have political signs. I own my own business & the building we are in. I would have loved to paste HILLARY signs all over but had the sence not to. I would never risk loosing a customer over politics....especially in this economy.

I did have the HILLARY signs at my home....and boy did I get comments

heh. I work out of my home in Texas and in 2000 I had a few clients that didn't appreciate my Gore signs. One client called me from the curb and told me that he wouldn't be showing for his appointment because he didn't approve of my politics.

I told him that that was okay, I didn't work on his kind either.

 

[Mickeyistheman]

I am wondering if the OP had a different bumper sticker on the car. If her boss would say anything.

It may not be Freedom of Speech but we do have the right to vote for who we want in the country. Our boys and girls are fighting for our freedom over there.

I would leave it on and just park elsewhere if you can, but I agree with another PP that said what if a customer parked there with a similar sticker?

I am also curious what it says, if it isn't offensive and it just says Obama 08 or Mccain 08 that should not be a big deal.

 

[CPT Tripss]

You could NOT be more wrong. .

The First Amemdment only provides that the government can not censure your speech, except in very limited circustances.

Employers, friends, family, etc can tell you to "shutup" all day long and it is not a violation of the First Amendment.

Once again- it is only a violation of the First Amendment if it is the government censuring/suppressing your speech.

Makes you wonder what they are teaching in schools these days when citizens need to be reminded of this.

Ooops! SeeVee made just this point. Well it's no wonder the country is in the condition it is.

 

[LotsOfQuestions]

I am wondering if the OP had a different bumper sticker on the car. If her boss would say anything.

It may not be Freedom of Speech but we do have the right to vote for who we want in the country. Our boys and girls are fighting for our freedom over there.

I would leave it on and just park elsewhere if you can, but I agree with another PP that said what if a customer parked there with a similar sticker?

I am also curious what it says, if it isn't offensive and it just says Obama 08 or Mccain 08 that should not be a big deal.

It really doesn't matter if the OP had a different bumper sticker whether her boss would say anything.

It really doesn't matter what the boss would do with customers.

It really doesn't matter if the OP thinks her bumper sticker is not offensive or not a big deal.

It doesn't matter who the OP wants to vote for. How does this have anything to do with suppressing her right to vote for whom she wants? The owner hasn't told the OP who to vote for. This is about the OP sending a message that is contrary to the owner's views in his driveway.

The only thing that matters is that the boss does not want the OP's bumper sticker in his driveway.

And he is allowed that.

Since the lot is privately owned, the owner has the right to say what happens in it. It really can't be much simpler.

If you don't like it and don't want to remove the bumper sticker, you have every right to display your bumper sticker on public street parking.

 

[LotsOfQuestions]

Well it's no wonder the country is in the condition it is.

 

[Imzadi]

but I agree with another PP that said what if a customer parked there with a similar sticker?

It might not matter if the customer had a similar sticker. Maybe the boss wants a politics-free business zone so he can avoid losing customers with the very same type of incident a PP posted right above your post:

I had a few clients that didn't appreciate my Gore signs. One client called me from the curb and told me that he wouldn't be showing for his appointment because he didn't approve of my politics.

I told him that that was okay, I didn't work on his kind either.

Maybe this boss doesn't care what their politics are, he justs wants to stay in business.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I'm also curious to know what it says. "Political" can mean many things!

OP: Would youe please tell us what it says or at least the gist? Enquiring minds want to know!!

 

[Nancyg56]

That actually IS the case if you work for PepsiCo. I was there, working a freelance job. I went to take a swig out of my bottled water and my boss almost went nuts, making me toss out the bottle before anyone saw it. The brand, which might have been Dasani, I don't remember, was bottled by the Coca Cola company. Oops!

I found out, that when hired, each PepsiCo employee has to sign a form stating they will not buy, own, use, carry, etc. any products by their competitors. Furthermore, if their car is searched in the employee parking lot, or they have a family picnic and Coca Cola products are in their car or at the picnic, they could be fired. PepsiCo employees are representatives of PepsiCo even in off duty hours.

I'm sure Coca Cola has similar employee rules.

My DS works for Pepsi and he is not allowed to bring competitors products into their building or have them insight on their property. I have not idea what is on his grocery list but he does respect that his employer would not want to give the impression that their employees prefer a competitors brand his paycheck depends on customers believing that Pepsi products taste better than Coke.

My DH works for a construction company and they bid for State jobs. During a past election year a coworker was asked to remove a bumper sticker for a candidate running for governor. This is a Union shop so DH was surprised when his coworker had to remove the sticker. The company did not want any issues with their ability to get jobs but most of the guys felt that the request was invasive.

 

[alldiz]

OP.....I just asked DH about your bumper sticker predicament.

He says private companies CAN do this....while gov't can not.
I guess because it is private property.

IMO this is ridiculous....and I would be surprised to find out that a "democrat" would ask you to do this.....OP am I right?
Kerri