Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Fired for texting?
Can an employer fire you for sending a text message to a coworker while off duty? My boyfriend got written up and then consequently fired for sending text messages to one of his employees. He and the employee are friends and the text message was sent after work hours. The employee, a 17 year old male, left his phone out, where his mother looked through the phone, found an allegedly ''x-rated'' text, called the employer, who subsequently fired my boyfriend, sighting this reason on the termination letter. The 17 year old never at any time told my boyfriend not to send him texts of that nature. In fact, on more than one occasion, he would send texts of that nature to my boyfriend, and vice versa. These texts were meant and understood to be jokes shared between 2 male friends and with the consent of both parties. In fact, many times when my boyfriend would receive dirty jokes on his phone, and the employee observed it, he would say ''Hey, send that to me.'' Does the employer have the power to do anything if the employee never personally complained about it or asked my boyfriend to stop?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Fired for texting?
'At will' employees can be fired any time for any reason, subject only to rules about civil rights or whistleblower protections. An employer could reasonably consider this 'conduct unbecoming' a supervisor, on duty or off, that exceeds or overcomes his limited 'free speech' rights. In his next job, encourage him to behave more responsibly and keep the employer happy with him.
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