Voting leave. Employers must review their policies and practices to ensure compliance with any state laws requiring time off for employees to vote in elections or primaries. These state voting leave laws vary in terms of the amount of time off required, whether it must be paid, posting requirements, penalties for non-compliance, and any notice required by employees. For more information about state voting leave laws, including state-specific model policy language, see:

Political affiliation discrimination. Federal anti-discrimination laws do not provide protections to private sector employees from workplace discrimination based on political affiliation. However, certain state and local laws do protect employees of covered private employers against discrimination based on political affiliation, activities, or views, including:

Even if an employee's political affiliation or activities are not protected by law, employers must be careful not to engage in prohibited discriminatory conduct to the extent other protected classes are implicated, such as race, religion, or sex. For more information about federal anti-discrimination laws, see Practice Note, Discrimination: Overview.

For more additional information about political affiliation protections under state laws, see Anti-Discrimination Laws: State Q&A Tool: Questions 1 and 4. For a model Equal Employment Opportunity policy that can be modified to include political affiliation discrimination, see Standard Document, Equal Employment Opportunity Policy.

NLRA Considerations. Employees' political advocacy may, under certain circumstances, be considered protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). To determine if political activity falls within the “mutual aid or protection” clause of Section 7, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) looks to whether there is a direct nexus between a specifically identified employment concern and the specific political issues employees are advocating. While supporting the election of a candidate as a purely political matter without reference to any employment-related problems or concerns is not protected under existing Board precedent, employers should always undertake a careful analysis before prohibiting or disciplining employees for any political activity.

For more information about the NLRB's analysis of employees' political activities, see NLRB Gen. Counsel Mem. 08-10, (July 22, 2008) and Eastex, Inc. v. NLRB, 437 U.S. 556, 565 (1978). To learn more about protected concerted activity, see Practice Note, Employee Rights and Unfair Labor Practices Under the National Labor Relations Act.

Anti-harassment policies. Political talk can offend others, particularly because comments and opinions on topics like race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion tend to permeate these discussions. Because these conversations are likely to seep into the workplace, it is important for employers to have in place an anti-harassment policy that communicates the employer's expectations about appropriate workplace behavior and contains a complaint procedure for employees to report uncomfortable situations. For a model policy, see Standard Document, Anti-Harassment Policy.

Social media use. Individuals are increasingly turning to social media to express their political views, and these posts can become heated and hostile. Employers should consider implementing policies to help prevent employees from using social media or the employer's IT resources to harass their colleagues or attribute personal political opinions to the employer. However, employers must be careful not to restrict or chill employees' Section 7 rights under the NLRA. For resources to help employers navigate the appropriate use of social media in the workplace without infringing on employees' rights, see: