Can, or Should, Employers Prohibit Employees from Wearing Political Gear in the Office?

With a presidential election coming up in three months, politics are a hot topic of conversation nearly everywhere you go—including the workplace. As a result, many employers are considering whether to issue or adjust policies to address civility among employees, set rules for political discussions, and even clarify dress codes.

One common question: Can employees wear political gear into the office or display other paraphernalia supporting a candidate or political cause?

“So long as speech and images are not violating anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws, political statements and images can legally be permitted in the workplace,” said Karina Sterman, employment partner at Greenberg Glusker in Los Angeles.

But ultimately, employers are allowed to dictate what’s appropriate and allowed, just as they often regulate work hours or have rules about dress codes.

Jeremy Glenn, office managing partner at Cozen O’Connor in Chicago, said that in the private-sector workplace, employees traditionally do not have First Amendment rights to express their political views through office decorations or apparel.

But in the current climate, Glenn said, the definition of what is considered political has broadened to include many topics for which an employee may indeed have the right of expression in the workplace. For example, if employees are joining together to improve their working conditions—such as protesting gender, race, or religious discrimination in the workplace—then wearing so-called political apparel could be protected speech under the National Labor Relations Act. And the act provides such protection even in workplaces where employees are not currently represented by a labor union, he noted.

“The difficulty for an employer in defining what is meant by political speech means that the employer risks being overbroad, which creates a bigger problem than was present with the original decoration or clothing,” Glenn said. Instead, employers are well served to remind all employees of existing anti-harassment or respectful-workplace policies and take action if there is a complaint about unwelcome, offensive, or intimidating behavior by an employee toward a co-worker.

For the most part, when it comes to the upcoming presidential election, employers will most likely want to avoid allowing workers to wear or decorate with obvious political paraphernalia—such as a Donald Trump shirt or a Kamala Harris sign in one’s office.

“Even an employer that champions engagement and self-expression should consider whether it should be allowed,” Sterman said. “Simple parameters such as prohibiting names and images of politicians, names and logos of political parties, and identifiable campaign slogans are a good place to start.” She said such prohibitions can help minimize “the emotional heat that is often an unintentional consequence of political expression.”

In general, most employees prefer that politics not play a big role in the workplace. Recent data from jobs site Monster found that 68% of workers are not comfortable discussing politics at work. While 64% of workers say they respect their co-workers’ rights to their political beliefs without passing any judgment, 33% say they have judged co-workers negatively based on their political beliefs.

Richard Birke, chief architect of JAMS Pathways, a conflict resolution firm that works with employers, said permitting employees to wear clothing with overt political statements may be offensive to colleagues or stir up arguments or incivility in the workplace.

“At our company, for example, we want to help you solve your problem; we don’t want to incidentally get in a fight with you on the way in by wearing a T-shirt advocating for a particular candidate,” he said.

Communicating Policies

Leading up to the election—and even afterward—employers should communicate clear policies around political gear and paraphernalia to employees and enforce those policies, experts said.

The policies should apply to all workers, including remote workers who may appear on video calls, according to Birke. “If you’re on a Zoom call for work, you’re at work,” he said.

Glenn added that as a best practice, if a private-sector employer issues a policy about restricting political decorations or apparel, the employer should ensure it applies the same restriction to all nonwork-related decorations or apparel.

“The employer has to be diligent about enforcing the same restriction when it comes to charitable causes, community events, religious organizations, and even favorite sports teams or entertainers,” Glenn said.