Employee use of social media, and HR policies

The issue of how employers fairly deal with supposed transgressions of policy by expressing their personal or political views on social media has again arisen, with Cricket Tasmania terminating employment of a staffer who expressed how disappointed she was with how the Tasmanian Government was managing access to reproductive health services. As an employer, are you entitled to constrain someone’s opinion on social media? When can you? Although the employee was in a Government relations role, did her opinions on an issue unrelated to her actual role blur the lines? This is a timely reminder to provide guidance on reasonable social media usage that could be associated with the company, employees or clients.