One of your sales managers steps into your office and closes the door. “Boss, you’re not going to believe what Mary, that new sales person, has said about you on her Facebook page.” She posted:

“Can you believe the GM expects us to work 55 hours a week and only pays us minimum wage????? Who does he think he is? An overseer on a plantation???? One of us needs to tell that scumbag that the days of slavery are OVER!”

Your first reaction is that she needs to go and she needs to go today. After all, you are in an “employment-at-will” state, so you can terminate an employee for “good reason, bad reason or no reason at all.” Insulting your boss in front of the world is certainly a good reason. Besides you have read or heard lots of stories about employees being fired for dumb things they have said on Facebook.

But hold on. There are a couple of reasons why terminating her under these circumstances could be against the law and could cost you dearly. Here’s why...