Damage control | Should an employee's actions outside of work affect their professional life?

An incident at last weekend’s FA Cup final has again shone the spotlight on bad behaviour at football matches. One man made headlines and went viral when the football shirt he was wearing caught the attention of the nation – for all the wrong reasons.

He was photographed wearing a white Manchester United shirt with offensive writing on the back relating to the Hillsborough disaster. Photos posted online caused outrage, though Wembley stadium security and police took swift action, arresting the man and charging him with displaying threatening or abusive writing likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.

His face and name are now splashed across social media for all to see, including employers, raising the question of what impact this behaviour would have on an individual’s work life.

Is an employer justified in taking action against employees involved in this kind of scandal, even if the behaviour occurred outside of working hours and the workplace?