I’m a member of a Facebook group in the Coachella Valley and someone posted a photo of the owner of a coffee shop supporting [name redacted] and asked people to boycott their business. Is this what America has become? There was a pile-on of hate and jubilance at the thought of putting this man out of business. It strikes me as vengeful and mean-spirited.
Bystander
Dear Bystander,
People vote in many ways — at the ballot box and with their pocket book.
Business owners create a brand to appeal to members of the public. They sometimes telegraph conservative, libertarian or liberal values to their customers, but more often than not they stay agnostic so to appeal to as broad a consumer base as possible. The owner of this coffee shop threw his support behind a candidate — whose name I redacted because this is a politically nonpartisan column — and has put his stance to the vote.
Vote “yes” for an americano and a muffin to go at his Coachella Valley venue. Or vote “no” for a cappuccino and a scone at the cafe up the street. You could call it courageous or foolhardy. Either way, he has now left it for his customers to decide. In a way, they are the principles upon which America was founded: freedom of speech and the freedom of the press. I guess expressing oneself on social media just about covers that.
You could call it courageous or foolhardy. Either way, he has now left it for his customers to decide.
The political is personal in America and the personal is certainly political, if the past several months of campaigning for the presidential election is any indication. As an Irishman, it feels like two separate countries are trying to live as one. What’s good for this goose, the coffee-shop owner, is good for the gander, his customers and employees. Staff members who wish to tweet or express their views on Donald Trump or Kamala Harris may suffer a similar fate.
Today, it’s this coffee shop. Tomorrow, your difference of opinions could be over donations made by a foundation associated with Chick-fil-A, or naming the Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center after David H. Koch, the late billionaire who donated money to conservative causes, or My Pillow, whose founder and Trump supporter Mike Lindell is the company’s chief executive. The next day? It could be conservatives boycotting Target or Bud Light.
Words and actions should, ideally, be expressed with dignity and respect. Where I agree with you is the standard of discourse and people using social media to abuse other people, sometimes anonymously. I’m concerned about the impact on people’s mental health, particularly young people. This Pew Research Center study found that nearly half of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online.
Yes, people have been fired for expressing their political opinions. The National Labor Relations Act “protects the rights of employees to act together to address conditions at work, with or without a union,” but it does not address politics. The legal framework is a complex one, and an employer’s ability to fire a staffer without facing a wrongful-dismissal suit will also depend on the nature of the political speech and where it occurs.
There are only a couple of states with state laws that prohibit discrimination based on political beliefs: New York and California, plus the District of Columbia. But political beliefs are not protected under federal law. If you are having political conversations, your rights will also be complicated by where you are employed and the nature of those political opinions. Florida is an at-will employment state, meaning you can be fired for any reason, or no reason at all.
Employees are vulnerable to dismissal if they express political opinions.
Americans, including the people on that Facebook group you reference, are vulnerable to dismissal by their employer if they express political opinions inside or even outside of work. The First Amendment does not protect private-sector employees from being fired — it applies to government entities. And while Title VII of the Civil Rights Act covers six protected categories, including religion, sex and race, politics is not one of them.
Whomever you voted for in the 2024 presidential election and whatever causes you choose to support, you may view this embattled Coachella Valley coffee-shop boycott as vengeful and mean-spirited, while someone else might view it as an act of stoicism and an ethical consumer choice. One man’s investment decisions based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles is another woman’s bad investment.
The ability to respectfully disagree is what makes America, and society at large, great.
You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions at qfottrell@marketwatch.com, and follow Quentin Fottrell on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
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