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Regulating Off-Duty Behavior What impact does your employees' off duty behavior have on the job, and what is your right to do something about behavior you find objectionable? Can you fire someone for drinking too much, taking drugs, accessing pornography on the internet, or making offensive sexual remarks, if this behavior takes place after work hours? Which is more important, the damages done to your company's reputation by employees' undesirable actions, or your employees' right to privacy? More and more it seems as though employers are being limited on how far they can go in regulating employees' private lives. While every state but Montana technically allows firing "at will" for any reason that doesn't violate anti-discrimination laws, employers need to be very careful when taking action for off-duty behavior. There's a growing feeling that what goes on outside of the workplace is none of an employer's business, and employees can fight back under protection of state and federal privacy laws, and in some instances accuse you of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The subject is coming up a lot more often now because employers used to have more rights than they're viewed as having today. While off-duty conduct can be significant in its effect on the company's credibility and reputation in a community, today, federal and state laws limit an employer's ability to regulate seemingly "personal conduct" in the workplace and to base employment decisions on personal conduct outside the workplace. The areas where problems with off-duty behavior arise most often include: drinking; sexual harassment issues; smoking; family, marital, and relationships status; religious beliefs; dress and grooming; off duty lifestyle issues; sexual orientation; dating issues, and other lawful activities. While as a general rule employers are better off keeping out of employees' private lives, each case should be considered individually, as there are specific incidents when employers can get into trouble if they fail to get involved. Some of the hotter issues are:
For example, an off-duty manager goes to a bar and tells the bartender that his or her employees are a bunch of "old geezers," or makes racial and ethnic remarks denigrating employees. In this situation, an employer has the duty to regulate this behavior. No employer can have managers and supervisors show prejudice against employees in protected categories.
Problems may also arise under the FMLA, for example, if employees request leave for alcohol and drug related reasons and want to maintain their privacy about the issues.
Although the ADA protects employees who have histories of being addicted to substances, current users of illegal drugs are not protected. While some may feel this is a privacy violation, employers are entitled to have policies that they will not hire or retain those who use illegal drugs, and they may screen employees for substance abuse, even if these substances were consumed off duty. The key to overcoming substance abuse privacy issues is to notify all employees of your policies, apply policies equally to all, and have job-related reasons for the policies.
In internet-related issues, you need to separate whether the behavior is taking place on company time and on company equipment, or whether it is occurring off duty on the employees' personal time. Many employers are notifying employees that it's in the company's interest to regulate what employees do on company computers during work hours, as equipment can become overloaded or pick up a virus. Employees can be prohibited from using company equipment to access objectionable material such as pornographic Websites and e-mail which can be viewed as offensive in protected areas such as sex, race or national origin. What employees do at home on their own equipment is generally not the employer's business, but there are exceptions. For example, if someone such as a pediatric hospital worker becomes convicted of a moral offense such as pornographic interaction with minors, this could be argued as job related and may be relevant to the employer. Prevention Tip: Analyze each individual case to determine if the area involved is one that should remain private or if it is one that will affect your organization negatively. If it is not your business - stay out of it. If it is your business, make sure you take care of it. Boundaries In order to make yourself feel safe in a relationship, and make others feel safe in relationship to you, you need to know your boundaries and let others know. Here are some things to keep in mind when establishing and communicating your boundaries. 1. Know your boundaries. We can get swept away in the bustle of everyday living. Sometimes we let things slip, or forget to take care of ourselves the way we should. We can get worn down and forget to stand up for ourselves by letting our boundaries be known. Think back over the past several months of times when you “went ballistic” inside. These are clues to when your boundaries were violated. Intense rage, hurt, indignation, etc. are there to signal you that you need to do something to stop what's going on. 2. Your boundaries are YOUR boundaries. Everyone has their own idea of that line that can't be crossed by others. Even if with loved ones, sometimes especially with loved ones, we need to make it clear how we want to be treated. 3. Everyone has boundaries, but each person's are different. Your “line” may be different than someone else's; in fact it probably is. That's why we need to know them and make them clear. Do your homework: Spend some time noting your boundaries and write them down. Learn them well. Learn the signals that announce violations, and learn the phrases to use to stop the violations. 4. Why verbalize your boundaries? It's a Good Thing. When you know your boundaries and protect them and yourself, it's healthy, you feel good, and your self-esteem rises because you know you're taking care of yourself and standing up for yourself. You have announced to yourself that you're worth it. 5. How to educate others about your boundaries? Every time something comes up, address it immediately. It's important to keep a steady tone of voice—you don't want to fan the flames—and to go step-by-step. Remember when your Mom held up her hand signaling stop—or sometimes she might have said, "Okay, I've had enough." At other times she used all 3 of your names: "Mary Alice Brown!" Those are the same messages we need to send in our peer and adults relationships. Inform the person, then give a warning, then draw the line, then absent yourself, i.e., "I'm going to leave now to protect myself until you can say/do X or stop talking to me/treating me that way." 6. When you set boundaries respect goes around and around. It's a sad, but a true fact, that we often need to demand respect from others before they will show it to us. When we show that we intend to be treated with respect, it raises their estimation of us in their eyes. You may think inside yourself that you deserve respect and everyone should know it, or that if you treat someone else with respect they'll return it, but it doesn't always work that way. 7. Stay calm. When you start the correction process, you don't need to talk about the past and shame the person for past behavior. Establish clearly and calmly that they can do this, and not that, say this and not that, when they are relating with you. Some people will comply right away. Some still won't listen; those "some" you may need to get away from— indefinitely or forever. You're worth surrounding yourself with only people who treat you well, support you, and affirm you. 8. A sense of relief ensues. You'll feel a sense of relief once you stand up for yourself and protect yourself, and likely the other person will feel relieved that they now know how you want to be treated. People who want to be in relationship with you want to know what the rules are—and everyone's rules are a little different. In the great guessing game of relationships, people guess wrong. They have old patterns of their own, they know many people, and they have been treated well or not well in the past. Some people have never been treated well and so they have no clue on right and wrong behavior in relationships. Verbalizing boundaries makes a clear picture for all concerned, and that's a relief. 9. Learn to recognize "Maximum" in your life. Know when your boundaries are being violated and do something about it. It may take you awhile to learn your own signals and act on them, but it's worth the practice. Try it —learn your reaction, speak up. You won't do it perfectly at first, but eventually you'll get the hang of it, and you'll be highly motivated by how much better YOU feel, the OTHER person feels, and how your RELATIONSHIPS feel.
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