Knoxville — After ABC canceled "Roseanne" following inflammatory tweets by the show's star Roseanne Barr, some people raised questions concerning freedom of speech, but employment attorneys say the termination is not a First Amendment issue.
"I think one of the biggest misconceptions I see is that people think that the First Amendment does apply to all aspects of life," attorney Chris McCarty said. "What they were trying to do was prevent the government from coming down and putting shackles on you. It has nothing to do with keeping your job at Walmart or any other private employer."
The extent of protection employees have depends on who they work for. In general, public employees have more protection of speech in the workplace than those who work in the private sector.
McCarty says since the Bill of Rights exists to protect citizens from government overreach, public employees have more freedoms in the workplace because their rights as an employee overlap with their rights as a citizen.
Most states, including Tennessee, have laws regarding 'at-will' employment agreements.
"That means you can fire somebody with cause or no cause. So if I don't like your shoestrings I can fire you. If I don't like what you said last night and it puts my company in a bad light on Facebook, I can fire you," McCarty said. "A lot of employees unfortunately learn the hard way."
One exception to private employees facing kickback for their speech comes from the National Labor Relations Act.
"Employees are going to be protected from discussing working conditions in an online forum, at a bowling alley, in a break room, etc. So how much you're paid, whether you get good benefits - those things are protected even in private workplaces," McCarty said. "But criticizing the employer in a broad-based way, talking about politics - those things are not protected in a private workplace."
ABC dropping "Roseanne" is far the only case where the social media has come back to sting public figures.
"I think what Roseanne is learning right now and unfortunately what people that work on that show that have nothing to do with Roseanne and had nothing to do with that tweet are learning that for every action in life there are consequences," McCarty said. "And just because the First Amendment prevents you from being thrown in jail or getting fired by the government for certain speech, it doesn't prevent a private employer from taking action."