Can Expressing Political Opinions Affect My Job? (SA)

This material is designed and intended to provide general information in summary form on legal topics, current at the time of publication, for general informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

Everyone should have the freedom to participate in public and political life. Political activity is an important way of challenging injustice and creating positive change. 

Political activity could include things like expressing political opinions online, attending rallies, being involved in a union, being part of community advocacy, volunteering for a political party on election day, or expressing your views in your workplace. 

In an employment law context, political opinion includes: membership of a political party; expressed political, socio-political, or moral attitudes; or civic commitment.[1]

This fact sheet outlines the relevant laws you should be aware of if you are planning to express your political opinion.  

It is important to know what your rights are and whether you are legally protected from your employer taking or threatening to any action against you.

Check your employment contract, employer’s code of conduct and/or policies

It is common for employers to have employment contracts, codes of conduct and/or policies which have terms to the effect of needing to comply with all company policies as varied from time to time and/or not bringing the employer’s business into disrepute.

These documents may also require employees to abide by company ‘values’ such as ‘respect’ and ‘inclusivity’, which can be used broadly and, in some cases, unreasonably.  

There are even stricter policies for federal and SA public sector workers, who are bound by codes of ethics that stress impartiality and political neutrality.

If your employer thinks that you have breached your contract or company policies by expressing a political opinion in the workplace or outside of work, they may engage you in disciplinary procedures. They still need to follow reasonable disciplinary procedures.  

For more information on disciplinary matters and what you can do, see our factsheet here: https://wwcsa.org.au/resources/disciplinary-meetings-what-do-i-do/.

There are laws that protect you from discrimination, but they are complex, so it is important that you read the following summary carefully. 

Fair Work Commission

If you have been dismissed because of political expression, you may be eligible to make a claim for unfair dismissal if it was harsh, unjust or unreasonable. Please note that there are several criteria which determine whether you are eligible to make an unfair dismissal claim, and there is a strict 21-day time limit. Please see our full Unfair Dismissal fact sheet for further information.  

Aside from Unfair Dismissal protections, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) gives workers certain protections (called ‘general protections’) to exercise workplace rights and prevents employers from taking harmful action (called ‘adverse action’) against workers for exercising these rights. One of these rights is to be a union member, and to participate in industrial activity.  

Another of these rights protects workers from discrimination at work on the basis of attributes like race, sex, age, political opinion, etc. However, the Fair Work Act says that the type of discrimination must also be unlawful under state anti-discrimination laws for a worker to be protected.  

In South Australia, political opinion is not protected from discrimination under the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (SA). This means that a worker is not able to make a general protections claim to the Fair Work Commission on the basis of political opinion discrimination. They might be entitled to make a claim if there was discrimination based on race, sex, disability, or one of the other grounds for discrimination in South Australia. 

Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

If you expressed your political opinion in the workplace and experienced discrimination in your employment because of it, you can make a complaint to the AHRC.

The AHRC has the power to investigate political opinion-based discrimination complaints. Although political opinion is not protected under Australian federal discrimination laws, your complaint would allege discrimination in employment under the ILO Convention concerning Discrimination in respect of Employment and Occupation, to which Australia is a party. For AHRC claims of this kind, a time limit of 12 months from the date the discrimination occurred applies.

A link to the AHRC complaint form can be found here: https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/ahrc_complaint_form_10012023.pdf.

Once a complaint has been submitted, the AHRC will investigate the complaint and may try to resolve the complaint by conciliation. Conciliation is a form of dispute resolution that will take place between the employer and employee to resolve the issue (for example, by an apology, compensation or change of policy). For more information on the AHRC conciliation process see: https://humanrights.gov.au/complaints/complaint-guides/conciliation-how-it-works.

If the complaint is not resolved at conciliation, the AHRC President will decide if discrimination has occurred, and if it has, they may report the matter to the Federal Attorney-General. For more information about the AHRC process see: https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/complaint-information-service/complaint-process-complaints-about-discrimination-employment.

Precautions you can take 

To minimise the risks of expressing political opinions to your job, you could take the following precautions:  

• Comply with company values and policies 

• Make it clear you are expressing your own personal views, not the views of your organisation  

• Avoid identifying yourself with your employer while you are involved in political activities (for example, do not wear your work uniform) 

• Avoid engaging in political activity during work time, or using work resources or technology to do so 

• Consider any conflicts of interest that you may need to declare to your employer arising from your political involvement or views, particularly if you are in a senior position 

• Avoid publicly criticising your employer or damaging the reputation of your employer 

Get some legal advice

We recommend seeking legal advice regarding impacts of political expression on your job. Contact your union for advice as your first port of call, or join your union if you haven’t already. You can also contact the Working Women’s Centre on 08 8410 6499 to get legal advice and our lawyers will walk you through whether making a claim is an option for you

[1] https://www.fwc.gov.au/political-opinion#:~:text=Political%20opinion%20includes%20membership%20of,moral%20attitudes%3B%20or%20civic%20commitment.