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When employees are arrested during their off-duty time and away from work, employers may need to make difficult choices balancing their various obligations. Among these are respecting the rights of arrested employees, ensuring the safety of workforces and workplaces, maintaining the continuity of business operations, and preserving brand integrity and corporate reputation—as well as considering how state and federal laws might relate to the conduct at issue and to any decision to retain, suspend, or discharge arrested employees. As with most things, process and risk assessment matter, and the way that decision-makers meet the moment may make the difference between an optimal outcome and an outcome that subjects employers to liability. Here are four questions and answers for employers weighing their options in these situations.

Question 1. When an employee is arrested outside of work hours, how can an employer know if it is permissible to discharge the individual?

Answer 1. How an employer responds to an individual arrest is most likely going to be controlled by state or local law. Almost all U.S. states have at-will employment, meaning that an employer may discharge an employee at any time, for any reason that is not prohibited by law, or when the at-will presumption has not been modified by contract. A limited number of states have laws that limit what an employer may do upon receiving information about an employee’s arrest. For example, the Wisconsin...

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