Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

Re: Employer threatening with termination

You do not give many details in your post, and this is understandable. But it is therefore hard to give you an absolute answer.

As a general matter, your employer can terminate you for any reason or for no reason at all, so long as it is not an illegal reason. Certainly, your employer CAN terminate you if you discuss internal company problems with customers who come in or with other people outside the company who you may contact in the course of doing business.

You have a protected right to discuss working conditions with fellow employees, so your employer cannot forbid you from discuss this matter with co-workers, if it involves the terms and conditions of your job. Your communications would also be protected if they were part of an effort to organize a union. However, to enforce that, you would have to go through the NLRB, and as a practical matter, it is unlikely that they would be able to get you your job back.

Your employer cannot fire you for whistleblowing activity, but there are some pretty narrow requirements to meet, and it will not protect you if you just generally spread the word that there is a problem. You have to be talking with specific people who have authority to correct the problem, and you have to start with the chain of command within the company.

The First Amendment protects you from government interference with your free speech rights. However, it does not protect you from the negative responses of other private parties, including your employer. So, unless your discussion is specifically protected (whistleblowing efforts, discussions with your coworkers about working conditions and some communications related to an attempt to form a union are the examples that come immediately to mind), your employer cannot stop you from speaking, but it can terminate you for it.

If you think your communications might be protected in one of the above categories, you may want to check with an employment law attorney. Otherwise, you may want to be cautious about your communications until you are able to find a better opportunity with another employer. Good luck!