Date: July 23, 2025
In July, a video went viral exposing a participant as a self-described fascist who sympathized with Nazis. He was fired after his employer saw the video. Straight Arrow News sought to answer the question of whether someone can be legally fired for their political beliefs. The publication spoke with TELG principal Nick Woodfield, who said, depending on actions, political beliefs can start falling into the gray area of hate speech and backlash on an employer's reputation — making a termination more justifiable.
Quoteworthy:
"A lot of places will say once speech becomes disruptive, it’s a basis for terminating you....There’s a difference between associating with a party and advocating a position.
Nicholas Woodfield
[EXCERPT]
Man allegedly fired for being fascist. Can you be fired for political beliefs?
A self-described Catholic fascist said he is out of a job after his employer saw his controversial comments on an episode of “Surrounded” by Jubilee. The man named Connor sympathized with the Nazis and said he prefers autocracy to democracy.
[…]
Ray Bogan: So what do you make of Connor’s case and the fact that he says he got fired for those statements?
Nicholas Woodfield: I think he got himself into a situation where he would have a hard time saying that he was fired for an improper purpose.
Not only did he say that he believed that he was a fascist, but he also started citing political commentators that were cited by the Nazi party and that supported the Nazi party and said things that would align with Nazi beliefs. And that gets to the point where arguably you may be falling into the area of hate speech.
Even if it was protected potentially under the First Amendment, you fall outside of the protections. But a lot of places will say once speech becomes disruptive, it’s a basis for terminating you. So like if you’re a baker and you work in a bakery and you’re in the front, you can’t be fired because you voted for the Democrat or the Republican in the office. If, however, you start saying things like, ‘I am in favor of the National Socialist Party and I believe that there should be a general purging of people that are socially unacceptable in the society,’ you can probably fall out.
Bogan: Let’s say for the purposes of this conversation, his employer knew he had all the views that he expressed in the Jubilee video before they hired him and they knew it all along. The only thing that changed after the Jubilee video is that he said it in a public manner. Does that change anything?
Woodfield: It doesn’t matter. Once he publicized that and someone looked him up and found him and they say he works for Bob’s Groceries, they may look at Bob’s Groceries in a different way as a result of it. If the employer felt that what Connor said in that video reflected poorly on it potentially or impacted its ability to serve its customers or its public reputation, then typically it would be justified. There’s a difference between associating with a party and advocating a position.
Bogan: Can you be fired for your political beliefs?
Woodfield: So the answer is nuanced. Federal government, state governments, local institution governments, there’s a slightly different standard. And in terms of your beliefs, if you’re working for a private employer, it turns more along sort of what you’re doing to manifest those beliefs.
