Should an employee be fired for an 'out of hours' scandal?

With social media blurring the lines between personal and private, in the wake of the recent Charlottesville protest, a Twitter account attempted to reveal the identities of those who marched in favour of white nationalism.

The exposure lead to the firing of a man identified in the images. But, can an employee really be fired for something they did outside of work? According to Jon Hyman, Partner at Meyers Roman Friedberg and Lewis, there’s good legal precedence for firing an employee for disruptive behaviour, even if it was the off the clock.

Writing in a blog post, Hyman focused on the firing of the man exposed by the @YesYoureARacist account. Hyman states that he’s received feedback from both sides, some have thanked him, whilst others have questioned the matter of privacy and whether there’s legitimate proof that the man who fired was actually a neo-Nazi.

Hyman essentially explains that constitutional rights allow an employee to speak their mind and profess a point of view – but that “those constitutional rights stop at a private employer’s door”.