HR Dilemma: Should an employee be fired over something they did outside of work?

A former police sergeant who was fired for flying a Confederate flag outside her Georgia home is suing the Rosewell Police Department.

Silvia Cotriss, a 20-year police veteran, had her contract terminated over what the department called ‘conduct unbecoming an officer’ for flying the confederate flag above her front porch. The offence says that employees must not do anything that jeopardises the public’s respect for the employee or the department.

However, Cotriss and her attorney, David Ates, are arguing that her dismissal directly violated her constitutional right to free speech as a private citizen – CNN reports.

"She was displaying her pride in her Southern heritage and honouring her recently deceased husband," the lawsuit said. "The Confederate flag [is a] generally accepted symbol of Georgia heritage."