Social media lit up following the deadly Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, and it has remained fraught during the Israel-Hamas war. Posts supporting the war have led to friction between some employers and employees—particularly when those posts seem to celebrate violence.
In just one example, an aesthetician at a salon in Columbus, Ohio, posted a photo in her Instagram Stories of a Palestinian man raising the Palestinian flag atop an Israeli tank. The woman, a Yemeni Muslim, also shared a screenshot of a post on X, formerly Twitter, that said, "Gaza just broke out of prison," The Cut reported.
The salon's owner is Jewish, and her husband has two friends who were taken hostage by Hamas. After the worker was reprimanded by her manager and told not to post anything about the war on social media, she deleted the posts from Instagram and posted a less controversial message of support for Palestinian friends and fellow Arabs. The next week, the salon owner, who posted incendiary comments about Hamas on a personal Instagram page, came in to say she was disturbed by the worker's post. The worker, who said she felt like she was being censored, asked for a termination letter the next day.
Can employers lawfully fire a worker based on social media comments? Often, yes, if they're hostile, but employers should keep in mind certain exceptions to the employment-at-will rule and be sure to investigate the posts in question.
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