COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Social media comments have resulted in several people being terminated from their jobs after Charlie Kirk was assassinated last week. Now, the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is investigating a social media post from an employee after the post was reported.
OSUWMC said in a statement, "We are aware of this matter and are following our established review process. The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center strongly condemns all forms of violence and remains committed to providing world-class care to every person, every time."
Elsewhere around the country, an administrator for Middle Tennessee State University was fired after remarks online about Kirk. A Washington Post employee also claims she was fired for posts about political violence and Kirk. These examples bring questions of the First Amendment and how it protects free speech.
Has Senate Bill 1 affected enrollment in Ohio’s universities?"Generally, the court has said that even hateful speech is protected. Speech that says callous things, cruel things, insensitive things, whether it's about Charlie Kirk or whether it's about Melissa Hortman, the Democratic Senator that was assassinated, those kinds of words are protected by the First Amendment," explained Capital University Professor of Constitutional Law Dan Kobil.
Kobil teaches law students about the United States Constitution and rulings that apply to the Bill of Rights. Kobil said social media posts fall under the freedom of speech and are protected. However, there are cases where those protections apply to prosecution and not necessarily from a person's employer.
"If they post things on their social media pages that would interfere with their ability to do their job or have the public believe that they can do their job fairly, that could be something that could be grounds for termination," Kobil said.
Darcy Jalandoni, a partner at Porter Wright law firm in Columbus, has been working in employment law for 15 years. She said the law is applied differently for private sector and public employees, like Ohio State University employees.
"So, the First Amendment does not provide protection to private sector employees. Most employers today consider their employees to continue being representatives of the employer, even when they're not at work," Jalandoni said.
"Most employment in the United States is at-will, which means that you can be terminated or you can quit for any reason at all, so long as that reason isn't discriminatory or in violation of public policy. Many employers today also have social media policies that may govern what an employee can and cannot be saying on social media. So it's important that employees are aware of those as well," she added.
Kobil said there is an instance where even a private sector employer could be constrained from terminating an employee for a First Amendment issue.
"If [Vice President] JD Vance is urging a particular employer to terminate someone and they feel compelled to do it in order to curry favor with the current administration, then that could be subject to First Amendment constraints," he said.
Vance appeared on a podcast calling for citizens to report social media posts to employers.
Jalandoni said it's important for people to keep their private social media and public persona separate.
"Think closely before you post about any kind of a sensitive or controversial topic," she said.
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