Did you Feds know that the Hatch Act still applies when you are working from home? It does. And that could be a problem for federally-employed people who do social media from their (home) workplaces.
In fact, I believe those Feds who work for the foreign affairs department of the Washington DC area's largest employer have been officially cautioned that while teleworking from home they are still subject to the Hatch Act’s on-duty restrictions and therefore they may not engage in otherwise permissible political activities when they are on duty at home.
And what is social media these days except political activities, however defined?
Under the Hatch Act, a Less Restricted employee, like me, "while at work" may not ... "Post a comment to a blog or a social media site that advocates for or against a partisan political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group."
That's on top of the usual forms of political activity the Act bans from the workplace, like displaying campaign materials, wearing partisan political buttons or t-shirts, and sending or forwarding content that advocates for or against a partisan political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group.
So, if I participate in a video team meeting and have a 'Vote for Smith' poster in the background, apparently I've violated the Hatch Act. Also, I like to use my bookcases as a video background, but some of my books might be triggering to some of my co-workers. If I post a warning before all team meetings that Some Scenes May Be Too Intense For Younger Viewers, would I be out of legal jepardy?
What if I take a short break from work to look at Twitter and, before I know it, retweet a message that says "Smith is a moron"? I guess I'll have violated the Hatch Act.
My only legal defense might be to claim I was not in what the Hatch Act calls "pay status" when I lost my head. But how is that status time-deliniated when we don't punch a time clock in our home offices? Must I wait eight or nine hours after I've logged on to the MS office app before I touch any blog or social media that deals with the pretty all-encompassing matter of advocating for or against a partisan political party, candidate, or group?
Will anyone be fired for home officeplace political activity in this dramtic 2020 election season? This will be a good one to watch.
9 comments:
The "Hatch Act", obviously I will have to brood upon this for a while.
Sennacherib
Continuing the theme a video of the Democrats election strategy:
https://youtu.be/cKx7v-uHDRQ
Sennacherib
TSB: Here is my suggestion just to stay out of trouble. Wear a mask like the Florida Maquis. They are available at Amazon. https://youtu.be/jejN9Xsfrqw
The mask has a mouth hole or you can just flip up the bottom to show your face. Definitely don't talk about thinks like Pepe's extensive article today discussing all the events around the date of the explosion in Beirut which seem to be mysteriously tied together, especially Trump's statement that it may have been an attack from a new secret military weapon. gwb
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/escobar-who-profits-beirut-blast
TSB: Sagar Enjetti (The Rising) found his name on a list of possible moderators of an extra debate proposed by the White House. The rest were mostly old white men so he would be the only one in the under 30 range During his vacation last week Sagar drove through 11 states in the middle of the country talking to as many people as he could. He found that most are really scared of loosing their jobs and healthcare as well as catching the virus.
Meanwhile the CA Health director resigned after it was discovered her Dept had under-counted 300,000 positive tests. That may be why CA's numbers have been improving so much lately. She was recently in charge in NYC so she knows about big numbers. She is considering an offer from Beirut which reported a record number of new cases today. "Have Computer Will Travel" gwb
GWB: NYC politicians know how to make unwanted numbers go down, that's for sure. The NYPD crime stats program is another example of how to define problems away.
Regarding video work meetings, why didn't I think of a mask? If I used a burner phone to join in, then I could say or do anything I want. Perfect.
TSB: If the "powers that be" were out to destroy the US economy it looks they have succeeded quite well. I didn't realize that the head of Calpers is a Chinese national with ties to the CCParty and that the NYT takes lots of money
from China to promote Chinese interests. The well organized and well funded BLM activities have demonstrated that the police are no match for mobs. And nobody is willing to prosecute them. Calpers invests a lot of $$ in Chinese companies that are "risky". Great article on the big picture. gwb
Engdahl: Towards A US-China War? The Creation of A Global Totalitarian "One World Government" System?
Calpers? I hadn't seen that. It would be hard to overestimate the number of Chinese embedded in our IT, banking, university, gov't labs, and even military systems, and all of them subject to China's national security law which makes cooperation with the Chinese intelligence services mandatory.
What to do? Import millions of Indians to replacement them, maybe.
TSB: Hillary Clinton Willing To Serve In Biden Administration! This ought to really jazz up the 9% of Biden supporters who say they are "really excited" about a Biden presidency.
according to this polling from yesterday...9% of Dem voters say they are voting for Biden because of his positions on issues or his policies. from Crystal and Sagar
https://youtu.be/ALc21viqwkk
Hillary will be a great help to Joe. She's helping already just by reminding everyone of why she isn't in the White House today. I mean, that will help, right?
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