Under current U.S. law, the employee is at will, and can be discharged for any reason or for no reason - including for what an employee posts on social media.(In about half the states, including NJ, employers cannot require that employees turn over their social media passwords, but in this case, the employer could ask for that under NY State law).

If you were the HR manager of this company, what would you tell the employer about the wisdom of his action?Is it reasonable to ask employees to hand over the ability to check their social media posts?Is this really a good way to prevent sexual harassment?

And what about what was posted by each person?Are each of these, or any of these valid reasons for discharge?If so, would you recommend that all employees be warned about the social media policy?Would you recommend that the policy be changed?Would you recommend that the employee(s) be rehired but given a warning about the future?

What would be the pros and cons of your suggested HR policy?

Apart from that, should this just be up to the company's discretion?Do you think the national law should be changed, and if so, how?

And how would things be different if the employee involved were union represented?