Can an employee be fired for a belligerent tirade?

Can an employee be fired for a belligerent tirade? Not necessarily, an employer should be careful when dealing with employee rants. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently referred to an employee’s right to discuss working conditions with her employer. The case involved an argument about working conditions that escalated when the employee shared some obscene opinions about his boss’s lack of popularity in the office. The discussion concluded with the employee pushing a chair aside and leaving his employer with one final thought; if you were fired, the employer would be sorry. The employee was fired and the lawsuit proceeded.

At issue in the case was whether the employee was improperly retaliated against for expressing his thoughts about his working conditions or whether the employer was justified in firing the employee in order to maintain order in the workplace. The Ninth Circuit considered the fact that the explosion occurred in a private office away from other employees; that the topic of the conversation was related to legally protected working conditions and compensation policies; and based on the appeal file, it considered whether the outburst was obscene and offensive or not.

The court noted that obscene and offensive outbursts are generally not protected, but decided the case by returning it to the Administrative Law Judge for clarification of factual findings as to whether or not the employees’ conduct was “belligerent.”

Lesson for employees: Be courteous when discussing the terms and conditions of your employment with your employer. The law protects an employee from retaliation when he raises the issue of his working conditions.

Lesson for employers: Be careful when responding to employee outbursts or belligerent employee behavior. This is especially true when the behavior relates to or is associated with a discussion about working conditions or employee compensation. Do not associate with an employee who raises concerns about their working conditions or compensation. This is true even when an employee could be a bit more courteous in discussing the issue. Any adverse employment action taken in response to an employee raising concerns about their wages or working conditions may be considered unlawful retaliation.

In short, employers should avoid taking any type of adverse employment action against an employee who has raised issues with the terms and conditions of their employment. Take care to ensure that there can be no argument that the adverse employment action was in retaliation for the employee’s legal right to discuss certain aspects of their employment, including working conditions, wages, overtime, or meal and rest breaks. Or whether or not coworkers like the boss.