With more companies than ever worried about their reputations and how their employees reflect on their brand, social media use policies are becoming more common than ever. Along with these policies, people are finding themselves reprimanded and even terminated for things that they post and comments they make on their social media platforms. Here's a look at what you need to know about being terminated for social media activity.
No, You Can't Claim Free Speech
Freedom of speech seems to be the go-to claim for people when things like this occur, but, unfortunately, that claim shows a misunderstanding of the 1st Amendment. Freedom of speech is intended as a means to keep the government from dictating what the public says through laws, not to protect you from repercussions in a private environment. As a result, the 1st Amendment does not apply if you have been terminated by your employer for comments that you have made on a social media platform.
Yes, The Content Of Your Post Matters
Even if your employer has an established policy for social media use, that doesn't automatically mean that they are within their rights to terminate you for something you posted. In fact, the content of your post matters when it comes to determining if you were wrongfully terminated.
Labor laws protect certain kinds of statements. For example, if you were terminated for posting something about your job or the company, you might have a wrongful termination case. Some of those statements may be protected by the whistleblower laws, which means your employer may have violated the law when they terminated you.
Yes, Your State Employment Laws Apply
One of the biggest complications when it comes to termination for social media activity is your state's employment-at-will policy. Every state has an employment-at-will law, allowing both employers and employees to end an employment arrangement without needing justification.
However, a majority of states also have an exception on the books for implied contract situations. In these cases, employment-at-will doesn't apply if it violates an implied contract between the employer and the employee. If an implied contract has formed, you can't be terminated in violation of that contract. However, you'll have to prove the existence of that implied contract, which can be difficult.
You'll need to work with an employment law attorney to help document your case in this situation. Your attorney can help you navigate the state's employment and wrongful termination laws to present your claim.
To learn more, reach out to a company like Law Offices of Mitchell Schley LLC.
Share10 September 2020
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