QUESTION

Do I have a case in which my freedom of speech has been violated?

Asked on Jul 27th, 2014 on Wrongful Termination - Texas
More details to this question:
I was recently terminated from my employment for a tweet that I posted on Twitter. The tweet did not reference my place of employment, nor was it directed at an employee of the company; however, the person whom I made the comment too, retaliated by filing a complaint with my company, calling me a racist, and I was terminated. My tweet was "Get out of our state and country, Allah lover." It was in response to a Muslim woman who lives in Texas and was making derogatory remarks about Texas, America and our conservatism. HR told me that the reason I was terminated was because I violated the social media policy. When I asked what section of the policy, Jim Kelley, HR Director, became belligerent, raised his voice and said once again that I had violated the social media policy. I strongly believe that this individual has very liberal beliefs and thus his decision was based more on bias than policy. I've never been terminated nor have I received verbal or written warning from any employer.
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1 ANSWER

Litigation Attorney serving Weatherford, TX
Partner at ROGERS, LLP
2 Awards
The Constitution and your rights under its various amendments protects you against Government action.  It gives you no rights with respect to a private employer unless Congress or the State of Texas pass specific laws giving you such rights. There is no general right of free speech in a private workplace.  Moreover, in Texas, an employer can terminate or discipline and employee for any reason or no reason (but not a reason prohibited by statute or contract), even if it is not spelled out in a policy manual. The description of your issue does not reveal that the employer did anything illegal.  
Answered on Jul 29th, 2014 at 9:50 AM

The forgoing is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or establish an attorney-client relationship.

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