The limits to workers' freedom of expression: What can be said and what cannot?

04 June 2024

The worker's right to freedom of expression and its limits

The worker has the right to freely express his thoughts, ideas, and opinions, but he also has the obligation to respect limits due to the consideration due to others and, naturally, to the entrepreneur or company. Therefore, the worker must respect his honour, dignity, privacy and act in accordance with the good faith that he must preside over, establishing precisely at this point the limit to the development of this right, with reciprocity, the employment contract.

This prevents, among other acts, from discovering certain activities of the company and undermining its prestige, which in no case should contradict the jurisprudential doctrine, which, as we have mentioned in previous lines, has proclaimed that the employment contract cannot imply renounce the worker's freedom of expression (STC 88/1985, of August 14) but it can limit and modulate it (STC 4/1996, of March 24).

In this way, it can be said that the right to freedom of expression can be classified as follows:

Rights to freedom of individual expression against third parties.

Rights of individual freedom of expression against the company.

Right to freedom of expression in the exercise of union activity.

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