https://norcallawfirm.com/2020/03/31/essential-employees-hav...
Hospitals need all the workforce they can get. No matter what they do now, during the pandemic, there will be no shortage of patients. And I suppose it is in their best financial interest to treat as many as possible, and it means a lot of personnel.
Having it the other around makes a lot more sense: doctor doesn't feel safe because of a lack of PPE, refuses to work, gets fired, complains about it. If that's the situation, it is not about whistle-blowing, it is about the right to stop working if the conditions aren't safe. Both are (or should be) basic workers rights, but these are very different things.
The relevant quote: "Ming Lin, an emergency room physician in Washington state, said he was told Friday he was out of a job because he’d given an interview to a newspaper about a Facebook post detailing what he believed to be inadequate protective equipment and testing. In Chicago, a nurse was fired after emailing colleagues that she wanted to wear a more protective mask while on duty. In New York, the NYU Langone Health system has warned employees they could be terminated if they talk to the media without authorization."
Just as a stop sign doesn't physically make your car stop at an intersection, a law won't prevent someone from firing someone else illegally. A fired employee can bring bring a wrongful termination suit, but the recently fired rarely have the means to see these through, even in the best of times. Employers know this.
Applies only to the government. Your employer can restrict your speech -- and pretty much any aspect of your private life -- however they wish.
The NLRA is pretty much toothless nowadays.
https://jalopnik.com/the-tesla-firings-were-about-unionizing...
https://medium.com/@GoogleWalkout/google-fired-us-for-organi...
> Nor is it strictly true for speech that takes place outside the workplace.
You are nominally correct. However, if I am your employer and I want to fire you I can almost certainly come up with some legitimate reason to put on the record. Your only recourse will be to file a wrongful termination suit and try to prove that the real reason I fired you was something other than what I said it was. Good luck with that.
Also, if you're in an at-will state, I don't even have to come up with an excuse. If I want you gone, you're gone.
Are they afraid of lawsuits? These kind of statements could look bad in the court. You go to hospital for some standard procedure, then get covid, then sue the hospital for not taking proper precautions.