Free Speech Rights Fuzzy for BLM Shirt, Confederate Flag at Work

The national conversation on racism and police brutality in America has cast a spotlight on the limited rights workers have to express political beliefs on the job.

What companies can legally do to regulate speech in the workplace is a separate matter from what they might decide fits their business interests. For example, Starbucks Corp. earlier this month reversed its policy that had barred workers from wearing buttons or apparel supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

Starbucks baristas and other workers in the private sector don’t have federal free speech rights, First Amendment scholars said. Businesses aren’t bound by the ...